'<?• 



,■?-' 

v^^ 



-■'^j- ,^^^ 






X'-; 




'^.- V* 




. x>^ =i^. 



x^-^ % 



,,-)- 



.0- ,' 






e.^' 



,^~^ ''e 



Sv .^^ 



'.-'o 






^^ '^, 






^^o 






\' sj. ^ '■ "/ > 















,#■ 



V"r:":>^^^ 






#'%■= 

^>\"-:^.. 



<-;. ^ A* 






■.^^% 






,0 o. 






^.%'5'- 



.#■ 



,o^^' 






.^^' % '^ 






oX'^ 











' / 


C' 




\>. 




.#' 


« 


-"./ 


% 


\ ~ 


-i^' 




<-• 



-Cu 



, c 



'\: 






<> -^^ 

vV '/>. 



-.^" ■ 



lS << 



• 0' ^ 



o 0^ 



^^z- 



.s^ "<^;< ^ 



"■^^^> ,^^^ 






,0o 



aV- 




B. F. PERRY. 



TO 

m DEH^ (gi^i^NDOHILiDJ^EN: 

B. F. PERRY BEATTIE, 
EMILY EDGEWORTH BEATTIE, 

AND 

WM. BEATTIE PERRY, 

THIS YOLUME IS SFFECTIONSTELY 
DEDICITED 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



%^ 



(^^ 



;y+fc 



PREFACE. 



Most of these Reminiscences were written and pub- 
lished several years since in various periodicals and news- 
papers of the day. It was thought by many of the 
author's friends that they were worthy of being preserved 
in a more permanent form. They are not biographies or 
eulogies, but simply a record of the author's intercourse 
with these public men, and their conversations and sug- 
gestions made at various times. The faults, as well as 
the virtues, of many who were near and dear to the 
author as friends are mentioned. Should this volume 
meet with public favor, a second series will be forth- 
coming, which have been written and also pubhshed, as 
these were at first ; and amongst them will be reminis- 
cences of Colonel Benton, Silas Wright, Chancellor Kent, 
Edward Everett, William Gaston, Chancellor De Ses- 
saure. Presidents Pierce and Fillmore, and many others 
whom the author has had the pleasure of knowing and 
conversing with. 

HEXT M. PERRY, M. D., 

Philada., June 14, 1883, 3501 Hamilton Street. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OF 



HON. BENJAMIN F. PERRY. 

The Hon. Benjamin Franklin Perry, a distinguished 
member of the South Carolina bar, and still more dis- 
tinguished for the ability and firmness with which he re- 
sisted the disunion movement in South Carolina, was 
born November 20, 1805, in the district of Pendleton. 

Benjamin Perry, the father of the subject of this 
sketch, was a native of Massachusetts. His ancestors 
were English. There were three brothers who immi- 
grated to America in the early settlement of Massachu- 
setts. Two of them remained in the old Bay State, 
and the third moved to Rhode Island. From that 
brother has descended the family of Commodore Oliver 
H. Perry. At the early age of sixteen, Benjamin Perry 
volunteered his services in the army of the Revolution, 
and was in the attack on Rhode Island in 1778, made by 
the combined forces of General Sullivan and Count 
d'Estaing with the French fleet. Immediately after the 
close of the American Revolution, he entered a store in 
Boston as clerk, where he remained till his removal to 
Charleston, S. C, in 1784. Thence he came to Green- 
ville, where he married Anne Foster, daughter of John 
Foster, ol Virginia, w4io bore a Lieutenant's commission 
in the regular army of the Revolution. The mother of 



8 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

Benjamin F. Perry , like the mothers of all distinguished 
men, was a woman of great vigor of intellect and char- 
acter. 

The childhood and youth of Benjamin F. Perry were 
spent amid hills and mountains, alternately going to 
school and working on the farm until he was sixteen 
years old. During that period he manifested a great 
passion for books, and read everything he could lay his 
hands on, even to the American Encyclopaedia! This 
early and strong manifestation for reading and learning 
induced his uncle, Robert S. C. Foster, to prevail on his 
parents to give him a classical education and a profession. 
He commenced the study of the languages at Asheville, 
N. C, where he met David L. Swain as a fellow-student, 
who was afterwards Governor of North Carolina and 
President of Chapel Hill University, between whom 
there sprang up an ardent friendship, which continued 
through life. The Latin grammar was put into his 
hands Tuesday morning, and such was his intense appli- 
cation, combined with remarkable fecility for learning, 
that he memorized the whole of it before the coming Sat- 
urday evening. In the course of ten months he read all 
the Latin and Greek books required to enter the junior 
class of the South Carolina College. 

In 1824, Mr. Perry entered the law-office of Judge 
Earle, and being only eighteen years old, he was enabled 
to furnish his mind with those rich stores of general in- 
formation and literature which have since enabled him to 
mingle with the labors of a large professional practice 
very many able articles to the periodical literature of the 
country. He varied his reading daily between law, his- 
tory, poetry, and novels. He finished his course of legal 
study in the office of that eminent la^vyer. Col. James 
Gregg, of Columbia, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. 

In commencing his profession at Greenville, he had 
more than the usual severe probation of young law}''ers, 
for there was very little business and an unusual number 
of eminent lawyers at the bar on the Western Circuit 



Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 9 

which included Greenville. Mr. Perry has pursued the 
laborious study of his profession even more assiduously 
since than before his admission, and has realized, by a 
commanding practice on the circuit which he rides, the 
rich rewards of emoluments and reputation to which 
talents of a high order, great labor and study, high per- 
sonal character, and speaking talent of a high order, so 
well entitle him. 

In the exciting and memorable nullification contest of 
1832, Mr. Perry took charge of the editorial department 
of a newspaper then published in the town of Greenville, 
where he resided. Nearly all of his friends — Judge Earle, 
Warren R. Davis, General Thompson, and others who 
would have been most likely to influence and convert his 
opinions, and would have influenced those of almost any 
other young man — were nullifiers. Most of the young 
men of the State were on the same side — as they are 
always apt to be on the side that seems to be that of 
honor and patriotism, because perhaps it is the side of 
action and danger. But the opinions of Mr. Perry were 
fixed and undeviating in favor of the Union — the result of 
much reading and reflection, not crude and hastily formed. 

The whole theory of nullification, as set forth by Mr. 
Calhoun in his various publications, w^as, in the judgment 
of Mr. Perry, at war with the fundamental principles of 
our Federal Government, and impracticable in its opera- 
tion. But it was a painful struggle for him to separate 
from cherished and honored friends, and from a large 
portion of the embodied chivalry and honor of the State. 
The crisis was one, however, which demanded the sacri- 
fice, and he made it, and firmly and resolutely did he 
pursue the path of duty as he regarded it, which is always 
the path of honor. The Mountaineer soon became a 
powerful and leading organ of the Union party, and all 
sorts of influences were exerted to bring over its talented 
young editor. Appeals to old and cherished friendsliips, 
to patriotism, courage, interest and honor, to go with his 
State and friends, were all made in vain. 



10 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

A Convention of the Union party assembled in Col- 
umbia, August, 1832, for the purpose of adopting meas- 
ures to counteract the movement of the nullifiers. JNIr. 
Perry was a delegate to that Convention, which Avas 
composed of such men as the venerable revolutionary hero 
and patriot. Col. Thomas Taylor, Judge Huger, Cliief 
Justice O'Neall, Governor Johnson, Poinsett, Pettigrew, 
Governor Manning, Judge Richardson, Governor Mid- 
dleton. Judge King, and many others of the most dis- 
tinguished names of the State. 

The opposition of the Union party at home and the 
denunciations of President Jackson's proclamation seemed 
only to madden almost to fury a gallant and already excited 
people. In the ensuing fall, a regular Convention of the 
people of the State was convened, by order of the I^egisla- 
ture, in the capitol at Columbia. ^Ir. Perry was elected 
a member of this Convention from Greenville, at the 
head of the ticket. His colleagues were Governor Mid- 
dleton. Colonel Brockman, and Silas R. Whitten, Esq. 

In 1834, ]\Ir. Perry was put in nomination by the 
Union party for Congress, and was beaten only sixty 
votes in a poll of six or seven thousand, (and this in Mr. 
Calhoun's district) by that highly gifted and most popular 
man, Hon. Warren R. Davis. Mr. Davis died before 
taking his seat in Congress, to which he had been re- 
elected, and Mr. Perry was again brought forward as a 
candidate, opposed by General Thompson. He was soon 
after throAvn from his carriage and seriously injured ; was 
confined to his bed till after the election, and consequently 
General Thompson was elected by a large majority. 

^Ir. Perry now withdrew from politics, as he had 
long previously done from the editorial chair, and de- 
voted himself exclusively to his profession and general 
literature. Few lawyers in the State have enjoyed a 
larger or more lucrative practice, and none have ex- 
hibited more learning and ability. 

In the fall of 1836, Mr. Perry was elected, without 
opposition, to a seat in the South Carolina Legislature. 



Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 11 

He was placed on the Judiciary Committee and the 
Committee on Federal Relations. He strenuously op- 
posed the agitation of the slaveiy question, and made a 
speech on the annexation of Texas, eminently successful, 
which elicited a very high compliment from Mr. Petti- 
grew — " Laudat'i a laudato.^^ The Louisville and Cin- 
cinnati Railroad came up before the Legislature at this 
session, and Mr. Perry was its warm advocate and de- 
fender. He was re-elected to the Legislature in 1838 
and placed at the head of the Committee on Claims, and 
in that position saved the State many thousands of dollars 
by his thorough and searching investigation of all matters 
presented to the House. In all the active business of the 
Legislature, and in all the discussions of the House, Mr. 
Perry took a decided and prominent part. He brought 
forward various measures of reform and improvement in 
our laws and State government of the highest importance. 
Among them was the establishment of a penitentiary sys- 
tem, the election of Governor by the people, and the 
election of Presidential electors by popular votes, the 
equal representation of the upper and lower country in 
the State Senate, the election of Judges for a term of 
years, and the blending of the courts of law and equity. 
He was opposed to all connection between bank and 
State, and, in connection with Col. Memminger, advo- 
cated the winding up of the State Bank. 

Mr. Perry was elected to a seat in the State Senate in 
1844. He was there placed at the head of the Com- 
mittee on Finance and Banks. During the four years 
that he served in the Senate, no member of that body 
took a more active and prominent part in all the debates 
and proceedings of that body. He was in the Senate 
when Mr. Hoar was sent by Massachusetts to South 
Carolina, and was the only Senator who spoke and voted 
against the expulsion of that gentleman from the State. 
Although in a minority of one, he told the Senate that 
this carried no terrors to his mind while conscientiously 
discharging his duty as a Senator. 



12 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

South Carolina had been for many years a disunion 
State, and Mr. Perry had been consistently a Union 
man ever since he entered public life. This had effect- 
ually excluded him from all State honors and office. 
But he never aspired to any before the Legislature. On 
several occasions, his friends voted for him for Chan- 
cellor and President of the State Bank. When General 
Cass was the Democratic nominee for the Presidency, 
Mr. Perry was not in the Legislature, but was elected 
by that body as an Elector to represent the State at-large 
in that election. Governor Orr and himself had pre- 
viously been opposing candidates for Congress. They 
were both Democrats, but Governor Orr came out in 
favor of General Taylor, which secured him the Whig 
vote and he was elected. 

In the course of his life, Mr. Perry has been called on 
to make a great many public addresses before various 
literary societies. He has occasionally written for the 
Southern Review and other periodical and literary jour- 
nals. In The Magnolia, published in Savannah, he 
wrote a series of Revolutionary incidents, which were 
embodied by Dr. Johnson in his book on the traditions 
of the American Kevolution. He has always kept a 
journal of his life, in which he has recorded not only 
the incidents connected with himself, but the important 
conversations he has had with distinguished men, after 
the fashion of BoswelFs life of Dr. Johnson. He has 
written sketches and reminiscences of a great many public 
men. He always kept a file of all his letters, newspapers 
and pamphlets, which he has had substantially bound. 
In the investigation of cases for court, he preserved all 
his notes of authorities and arguments. This he found 
of great service in his future practice. 

In all public im23rovements of the country, Mr. Perry 
has taken an active part, and contributed most liberally 
from his purse. The Greenville and Columbia Railroad, 
the greatest enterprise of the upper country, owes its 
origin and success in a great measure to him. 



Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 13 

In 1850 the secession and disunion feeling rose so 
high in South Carohna that it was said the State was a 
unit in breaking up the government and forming a new 
Confederacy. Mr. Perry, hoAvever, remained '^ faithful 
amongst the faithless/' and boldly j)roclaimed his oppo- 
sition to secession and disunion, as destructive of liberty 
and the very institutions of the South for the preservation 
of which the Union was to be dissolved. He suggested 
the propriety of establishing a Union paper at Green- 
ville after every newspaper in the State had gone over to 
secession and espoused the cause of disunion. He thought 
it would be a rallying point for the dismembered and 
broken Union party throughout the State, and perhaps 
be the means of checking disunion. Some of his per- 
sonal friends came to him and said if he persevered in 
establishing his newspaper, neither his life nor his prop- 
erty would be safe. His reply deserves being repeated. 
He said : "I will go on with the paper if it sinks my 
fortune and sacrifices my life T' The crowning glory of 
Mr. Perry's life is the more than Eoman courage with 
which he took this position. No one living out of the 
State can adequately appreciate the terrific excitement of 
the people at this dangerous crisis. Mr. Perry boldly 
assumed the editorial department of the paper. The 
difficult and dangerous path which was before him he 
trod with courage, patriotism, wisdom and high courtesy, 
which have won the respect and admiration of even his 
opponents. 

The Legislature met in November, and Mr. Perry and 
his colleagues from Greenville, Colonel Brockman and 
Mr. Duncan, were the only Union members in that as- 
sembly. When the question of Federal relations was 
discussed in the House, he opposed the action of the State 
in a speech of great length and ability, and boldly as- 
sumed that the Union was a blessing and not a curse, 
and that slavery would not survive its dissolution. After 
concluding his speech, he said to a friend; ^^I intend 
that my speech to-day shall be published to the world, 



14 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

and will leave it as a legacy to my country and children." 
This speech was published, and has been republished 
throughout the Southern States. Ten thousand cojiies 
were struck off in Charleston, at the expense of two or 
three gentlemen, for distribution in South Carolina and 
Georgia. It was hailed in Washington and* IN^ew Or- 
leans as a ray of light from South Carolina, and was cer- 
tainly the first check which secession and disunion had 
received in the State. 

The State Convention met in 1851, and Mr. Perry was 
elected a member of it from Greenville. He Avas placed 
on the committee of twenty-one to prepare business for 
the Convention. Judge Cheves was chairman of the com- 
mittee, and made a report, asserting the right of secession, 
but declining to exercise it at that time. jNIr. Perry did 
not acquiesce in this report, and submitted one of his own, 
which was elaborately written, and attracted considerable 
attention. 

In 1837, Mr. Perry was married in the city of Charles- 
ton to a lady considerably younger than himself. Miss 
Elizabeth F. 'McCall, daughter of Hext McCall, Esq., a 
niece of Governor Robert Y. Hayne, a lovely and accom- 
plished woman. He has had seven children, and only 
four, one daughter and three sons, are now survi^Hing. 
Mr. Perry has always lived like a gentleman, in a style 
happily combining elegance and frugality, and only ex- 
travagant in the purchase of books. He has the most 
extensive library in the upper country. He has saved a 
competency, and has a handsome income from his pro- 
fession. 

His })erson is tall and commanding, with a face more 
than ordinarily intellectual. His manners are at the same 
time dignitied, cordial and refined. His nature is frank, 
confiding, generous and impulsive — more quick to forgive 
and forget than to take offence. In all the domestic re- 
lations of life, he is without fault and without blemish ; 
as a lawyer able and learned, in public offices, as firm as 
Cato and as just as Aristides. 



Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 15 

The above sketch of the life and character of Governor 
Perry was written Ijy the late General Wacldy Thompson, 
in 1852, and is so fnll that very little space is left for a 
continuation. 

In 1852, Governor Perry was employed by General 
Thompson to go with him to Washington and assist in 
the defence of Dr. Gardiner, who was indicted in the dis- 
trict for perjury in presenting a false claim against the 
Mexican government. After spending five or six weeks 
in the investigation of the case in court, he became satis- 
fied of the guilt of Dr. Gardiner, and returned home. 

In the spring of 1860, Governor Perry was appointed 
a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 
Charleston. When the South Carolina delegates with- 
drew from that Convention, Governor Perry refused to go 
with them, and remained in the Convention, voting for 
Hunter, of Virginia. He was hissed by the gallery every 
time he rose to cast a vote. When he rose to make a 
speech, the hissing was so loud and continued so long 
that the chairman, General Cushing, ordered the galleries 
cleared. Governor Perry begged that the order might 
not be enforced, for he wished them to hear what he had 
to say. He thought the salvation of the Kepublic de- 
pended uj)on the preservation of the great National Dem- 
ocratic party. In this, all now admit that he was correct. 
It is said that a great man, thoroughly conscientious, is 
apt to pass much of his life in minorities. Like Lord 
Mansfield, he never *^ mistakes the shouts of a mob for 
the trumpet of fame.'^ 

In 1860, an election was ordered again for members 
of a State Convention to dissolve the Union because 
Abraham Lincoln had been elected President of the 
United States ! Governor Periy contended that this was 
no cause for breaking up the Government, and that the 
Southern people still had a majority in both Houses of 
Congress and in the Supreme Court of the United States. 
He also urged that the Presidential vote showed that a 
majority of the people were opposed to Lincoln's election, 



16 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

and he was elected only by the divisions in the Demo- 
cratic party. He warned the people, too, that they were 
about to plunge the country into a bloody civil war, 
which would result in the defeat of the South and the loss 
of their slave property. But such was the temper of the 
times that he was nowhere heeded. Even in Greenville, 
where he had never failed, in thirty years, to secure a 
majority of votes in any election where he was a candi- 
date, he was beaten for the Convention, in company with 
Chief Justice O'Neall and the Rev. Dr. James P. Boyce. 

"When the States seceded. Governor ]\Ieans came to 
Governor Perry and wished to know what his course 
w^ould be. He replied : " I have been trying to prevent 
this sad issue for the last thirty years. You are all now 
going to the devil, and I will go with you. Honor and 
patriotism require me to stand by my State, right or 
wrong. And I acknowledge the great principle pro- 
claimed in the Declaration of American Independence, 
that all governments derive their just powers from the 
consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the 
people to alter or abolish them, and institute new govern- 
ments.'' He consequently urged his Union friends to 
stand by the State and volunteer in her defence. His 
son, William H. Perry, and all his young friends did so, 
and remained in the Confederate army until they were 
killed, or until the surrender of Generals Johnston and 
Lee. 

As the war progressed, the people of Greenville began 
to regret their action in the election of members of the 
Convention, and elected Governor Perry a member of the 
Legislature without his being a candidate, and almost 
unanimously. During the war, he was appointed com- 
missioner under the Confederate government to regulate 
prices, etc. He also received the appointment of District 
Attorney and District Judge under the Confederacy. 

After the close of the war, he was appointed Provisional 
Governor by President Johnson, without any solicitation 
or knowledge on his part or on the part of his friends. 



Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 17 

About the time of his appointment, he made a veiy strong; 
Southern speech at a pubKc meeting in Greenville, which 
was very severely criticised at the North, and was the 
subject of a cabinet meeting. It was thought strange for 
a Provisional Governor to express such sentiments. The 
conduct of Governor Periy as Provisional Governor re- 
flects the highest credit on his character as a man and a 
statesman. It is a monument of the magnanimity of his 
nature and unselfish patriotism. There was no effort at 
mere personal ends. He seemed inspired only by the 
noble ambition of restoring to a ruined commonwealth 
order, prosperity and contentment. He sought to build 
no party for himself, to punish no old political enemies 
nor to reward any partisans. He restored to office all 
who were in office at the close of the war, without in- 
quiring what their politics had been. 

When Governor Perry called to see President Johnson, 
he gave so favorable an account of South Carolina, that 
the President requested him to go and repeat the same 
conversation to Seward, Secretary of State. On his return 
from Washington, the mails brought him, from all parts 
of the State, letters of congratulation on his appointment. 
He said, good humoredly, to his friends, that it seemed 
he had all at once become the most popular man in South 
Carolina, from having been the most unpopular, and that 
he was forcibly reminded of a remark of Charles the 
Second of England, on his restoration to the throne. He 
had been so warmly greeted by the people everywhere, 
that he began to think it was his own fault that he was 
not recalled sooner ; so Governor Perry said that it would 
seem to have been his own fault that he was not made 
Governor of South Carolina sooner. 

The Provisional Governorship of South Carolina was 
remarkable in one respect — Governor Perry's administra- 
tion neither received nor paid out one dollar ! He was 
authorized to levy a tax and sell public property, but he 
declined to do either, as the whole State was poverty- 
stricken. He met General Meade, commanding the At- 



18 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

lautic States, and had a stop put to the military authori- 
ties trying civil and criminal cases, except where negroes 
were concerned. He had to act on all pardons and ap- 
pointments. Xo pardon was refused where the applicant 
took the oath of allegiance. Governor Perry had the 
satisfaction of seeing all his political measures which he 
had been contending for throughout his political life, 
adopted by the State during his Provisional Governor- 
ship — the destruction of the Parish system, the election ol 
Governor by the people, the election by the people ol 
Presidential Electors, the establishment of a Penitentiary 
system, the amalgamation of the courts of Law and Equity, 
the election of the Judiciary for a term of years, and the 
separation of the State from all banking and banks. 

Whilst the Fourteenth Amendment was before the 
Legislature of South Carolina, and Governor Perry was 
still holding his Provisional office, he wrote to William 
H. Seward, then Secretary of State, that the Legislature 
objected to the amendment on the ground that Congress 
might claim, under the second section, the power to legis- 
late for the negro at some future period, Mr. Seward wrote 
in reply that the objection was querulous and unreasona- 
ble, and said the second section, instead of increasing re- 
strained the power of Congress. This construction ot 
Mr. Seward, Governor Perry has often remarked, should 
be known and remembered, as Congress has since claimed, 
under the second section of the 15th Amendment, the 
power of legislating for the negro in any and every way. 
The two sections are precisely the same in both amendments. 

In 1867, Governor Perry was a delegate from South 
Carolina to the Philadelphia Convention, and in 1868 
Avas a delegate to the Democratic Convention which met 
in New York and nominated Seymour and Blair as can- 
didates for President and Vice-President. Also, a dele- 
gate to the St. Louis Convention in 1876, which nomi- 
nated Tilden and Hendricks. Although constantly en- 
gaged in the troublesome affairs of his own State, and 
taking an interest in the struggles of the Democratic 



Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 19 

party, he still diligently pursued the practice of law till 
he became disgusted with the character of the Judiciary 
of the State after the negro government was forced upon 
the people by Congressional reconstruction. He has now 
in a great measure withdrawn from the law — he moved 
several years ago to his valuable farm near Greenville; 
his name, however, remains associated with his son in the 
practice, and he may be seen in his old office part of his 
time nearly every day. For years past he has entertained 
the public and amused himself, by writing reminiscences 
of public men, and personal reminiscences, which have 
been extensively circulated in the newspapers, and are 
valuable contributions to historical and biographical liter- 
ature. He is never idle as a student and Avriter, scarcely 
a Aveek now passes that some article from his pen does not 
appear before the public, but not always over his signa- 
ture. One of the most elaborate and finished productions 
that Governor Perry has put forth is an address delivered 
in the sj^ring of 1876, before the Medical College of 
Charleston, at the request of the faculty. He had been for 
many years a member of the Board of Trustees of this 
College. The subject of the address was, "The Past 
Glory, the Present Degradation and the Future. Hope of 
South Carolina." The subject was treated in a very able 
manner, and the address has received high encomiums 
from the Charlestonians and from various other quarters. 
He introduced in part of the address many interesting facts 
in medical history, and concluded with some admirable 
suggestions to the students upon the morals that should 
govern the medical profession. 

.Ever since 1860, Governor Perry has enjoyed the un- 
divided confidence of the entire body of the honest, intelh- 
gent citizens of South Carolina. His reputation has been 
co-extensive with the country. He has for nearly half a 
century distinguished himself for his active participation 
in all the important measures that have been agitated in 
South Carolina, on one side or the other. He was the real 
leader of the Union party in the State for nearly thirty 



20 Hon. Benjamin F. Perry. 

years, although he did not himself lay claim to the position, 
notwithstanding that party included such men as Judge 
Huger, Judge O'Neall, Legare, Poinsett, Judge David 
Johnson, Pettigrew, anci other conspicuous and able men. 
He made more speeches, wrote more for the newspapers, 
compiled more statistics and information, and with the 
masses of that party had more popularity and influence, 
than any of them. These old contests are terminated in 
South Carolina, Governor Perry is the only survivor 
amongst the leaders of his old party, and will take rank 
in history as the most efficient of his compeers, as Mr. 
Calhoun has undoubtedly taken the first place among the 
hosts of able men of his own school of politics. 

Having declined to be a candidate for Governor, the 
Legislature elected him, almost unanimously. United 
States Senator for six years. But like all Southern Sen- 
ators, Governor Perry was not allowed to take his seat in 
the Senate of the United States. 

"VYhen the second reconstruction of the States was 
ordered. Governor Perry opposed it in a series of articles, 
which were published throughout the Southern States. 
He thought it better to remain under a military govern- 
ment than be governed by negroes, carpet-baggers and 
scallaw^ags. 

Governor Perry preserves the dignity and courtesy of 
manner always ascribed to him. He is remarkably familiar 
with his friends, and accessible to all. He is a capital 
talker, and at the same time a good listener. The stores 
of reading, observation and anecdotes w^hich he possesses 
are freely dispensed, and embrace a wide range in science, 
literature and politics. He retains still much vigor pf 
constitution, and his firm tread and elastic step would in- 
dicate that he is a much younger man than he is. Of 
large and commanding person, with striking intellectuality 
of face, he readily impresses every one as being far above 
the mediocrity of men, and one of nature's true noblemen. 



l^EMINI^OENOE^ 



OF 



PUBLIC MEN 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

In the summer of 1846, I had the pleasure of an in- 
troduction to John Quincy Adams, in the City of Wash- 
ington. He was then a member of Congress, and had 
been President of the United States. I had through 
life entertained a profound respect for the character and 
public services of his father, John Adams, the successor 
of Washing-ton in the Presidential diair. He was one 
of the boldest and most uncompromising patriots of the 
revolution. Mr. Jefferson, in the latter part of his life, 
after a long estrangement with Mr. Adams, spoke of his 
honesty, purity and patriotism as above reproach. The 
father of John Adams was a small farmer and shoe- 
maker in Massachusetts. In his writings, edited by his 
grandson, John Adams mentions his being a laborer on 
his father\s farm in early life. He graduated at Cam- 
bridge, and intended to devote himself to the ministry, 
but afterwards read law, and practiced his profession till 
the breaking out of the American revolution. He mar- 
ried Miss Smith, the daughter of a clergyman, who was 
the mother of John Quincy Adams. She was a woman 
of remarkable endowments, and was strongly suspected 



22 John Quincy Adams. 

of having an undne influence over the mind of her hus- 
band whilst he was President of the United States. 
There was at one period of their lives a strong friendship 
between her and Thomas Jefferson, w^hich Mr. Jefferson 
attempted to revive after his retirement from public life, 
V)ut she would not be reconciled to him though her hus- 
l^and was. 

I was introduced to John Q. Adams by ^Ir. Grinell, 
a member of Congress from Massachusetts. ^Ir. Adams 
was the representative of the township of Sherbarn, the 
ancestral home of my father, and his ancestors for two 
centuries past. My father moved to South Carolina in 
1784, and I w^as anxious to know if any of the family 
were still living there. Mr. Adams invited me to call 
at his house in Washington the next morning, and he 
would show me a list of all the military officers in his 
congressional district, and give me all the information he 
could in reference to my kindred in Sherbarn. I called 
at ten o'clock and found the family at breakfast. Avery 
genteel looking negro boy met me at the door, and in- 
vited me into the parlor. Knowing, as I did, the strong 
and bitter abolition feelings of Mr. Adams, I was some- 
what surprised to find a negro in a menial capacity at 
his house. In a few minutes Mr. Adams made his ap- 
pearance in a round-about osnaburg coat or jacket. He 
received me very graciously, and asked me to excuse his 
dress. The book was produced and I found that there 
w^ere several of my name still living in the township of 
Sherbarn. I spent some time in conversation with him. 
He informed me that he had, in the preceding summer, 
made the same tour through Canada ; which I contem- 
plated, after visiting Boston. In his manners Mr. 
Adams was very plain and simple, without any preten- 
sions or assumption whatever. He w^as mild and gentle, 
but there was nothing cordial or captivating about him. 
I did not think him, however, austere or morose. He 
was courteous, quiet and calm in his manners. In stature 
he was short, but well built. His face and countenance 



John Quincy Adams. 28 

indicated kindness and benevolence; and I could not, 
whilst looking at him and talking to him, realize the 
fact that he had manifested so much passion and bitter- 
ness as he had done in his speeches in Congress on the 
subject of the South and her institutions. How true it 
is that men appear very different in different stations and 
under different circumstances ! Some men have two dif- 
ferent characters in public and private life. The most 
disagreeable judge I ever practiced before at the bar, was, 
in private, one of the most pleasant gentlemen I ever 
knew. 

In early life I had great regard for John Q. Adams 
as a statesman and patriot, and in the canvass of 1824 I 
preferred him for President to General Jackson or Mr. 
Clay. I thought his long public services, his great ex- 
perience at home and abroad, with his talents and attain- 
ments ought to have given him a preference over his 
opponents. His administration of the government for 
four years, was a wise, just and most economical one, and 
if he had then retired from public life it would have been 
fortunate for his fame and reputation as a man and a 
statesman. 

A day or two after this interview with Mr. Adams, I 
met him again on the public ground fronting the Presi- 
dential mansion. There was a large concourse of persons 
— ladies and gentlemen — strolling over the grounds in 
the cool of the evening, listening to the music of a mag- 
nificent band in the pay of the Government. Mr. Adams 
was walking entirely alone, and seemed to pass through 
the crowd unnoticed and noticing no one. As he came 
up General Thompson and myself spoke to him. The 
General made some remark about the occupant of the 
Wlute House always having an unpleasant and unhappy 
life, amidst the cares and disturbances which constantly 
beset him. He replied that he had not found it so. He 
had occupied the House for four years, and they were 
the most pleasant, agreeable years of his life. 



24 John Quincy Adams. 

I did not have the pleasure of hearing Mr. Adams 
speak in the House of Representatives. It was said that 
he always spoke well, and commanded the attention of 
the House. The members drew near to him and hud- 
dled around him whenever he commenced speaking. 
This was owing in part, no doubt, to his reputation as a 
statesman and the high places he had filled in the Re- 
public. And perhaps, also, to the bitter partisan and 
sectional feelings which always characterized his remarks. 
I noticed that he was never out of his seat when the 
House was in session. He took great pride in sitting 
there all night on one or two occasions. He died in the 
House of Representatives, and I have no doubt it was 
the wish of his heart to die there. 

In all human characters there are always blended good 
and evil. No one is perfect, no not one, says Holy Writ. 
With equal truth it may be said that there is no one 
without his virtues. The experience of every man is, I 
think, that he never knew any one intimately who had 
not some redeeming traits of character. It often happens 
that the highest virtues are linked with great feults. 
John Quincy Adams had high qualities, with great faults, 
as a public man. He was truthful, honest and patriotic, 
but selfish, ambitious and fanatical. He was a man of 
wonderful attainments and great ability. He discharged 
with great credit to himself and his country, all the high 
offices which he had filled, including that of the Presi- 
dency. He then lent the great powers of his mind to a 
sectional and fanatical party, which ultimately overthrew 
our republican institutions, and established a military 
despotism over one-third of the country, for the purpose 
of establishing negro supremacy in the Southern States. 
What the final result will be, of this folly and madness, 
no one can tell. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 

In 1833 or ^34 I was passing through the lower part 
of Anderson District^ South Carolina, called the " Dark 
Corner," lying on the Savannah River where I heard of 
" old Mrs. Stinson," a Revolutionary matron who had 
been the schoolmate of General Andrew Jackson, then 
President of the United States. I determined to pay the 
lady a visit and learn all I could from her about the early 
history of the hero of New Orleans. "Eaton's Life of 
Jackson," the only biography of him that I had then 
read, was very brief in regard to his family and early 
history. 

I found "old Mrs. Stinson," who spelt her name 
Stephenson, a plain uneducated, though good-looking and 
intelligent old lady. She was veiy much respected by 
her neighbors, and had around her a large family of sons 
and daughters, who were grown up and most of them 
married. All were respectable, though all were poor. 
The husband of " old Mrs. Stinson" had been dead some 
years before my visit. 

Mrs. Stinson seemed pleased at the object of my visit, 
and said she would most cheerfully tell me all she knew 
about the early history of "Andrew;" she had never 
known or called him by any other name. She said they 
were both born in the "Waxhaw neighborhood," Lan- 
caster District, South Carolina. Their parents lived very 
near each other, and were very intimate. She and "An- 
drew," were about the same age, and went to school to- 
gether. She did not know the father of General Jackson. 
He died before her recollection of him. He and his wife 
were both from Ireland. They had three children, al 



26 Andrew Jackson. 

sonSj and Andrew was the youngest. Andrew^ was going 
to a grammar school kept in the Waxhaw Church, when 
the Revohitionary war broke out in South Carohna. 
As the contest grew warm, the school was abandoned and 
the school-house burnt down. In the mean time one of 
Andrew's brothers died, and the other entered the ser- 
vice of his country. During the war this brother died 
with the small-pox. At one period the Waxhaw settle- 
ment became the seat of war in South Carolina and was 
laid desolate and left without inhabitants. It was during 
this distressing period that Andrew himself, then a youth 
of fourteen or fifteen years, had joined the American 
army. His services were unknown to Mrs. Stinson. 
She had understood that he was taken a prisoner by the 
British and had received a blow with a sword, from a 
British officer, for not performing some menial office. 
There were two cousins of Andrew, in the army ^^ith 
him. One of them was killed and the other was taken a 
prisoner and carried to Charleston. He was taken sick 
and Mrs. Jackson lost her life in attempting to visit him ; 
she fell a victim to the climate and season, and her 
nephew soon followed her. This left Andrew without a 
relation in the w^orld known to him, a stranger, not more 
than fifteen or sixteen years, in a newly settled country. 
What little property his family had possessed was all 
taken or destroyed by the enemy. AYhen peace was re- 
stored to the country he found himself alone in the 
world, without home or kindred, money or the means of 
supporting himself. One would naturally have supposed, 
seeing him at this time, that he stood very little chance 
of being the President of the United States. The Earl 
of Mansfield says, when a boy, he rode up to London on 
a bobtail pony to seek his fortune in that great city, and 
if one had met him it would never have entered his im- 
agination that he was meeting the future Lord Chan- 
cello ^ England or Chief Justice. So it would have 
been with one meeting Andrew Jackson, at this time. 



Andrew Jackson. 27 

At the close of the war, Andrew made the house of a 
Mr. White, an uncle of Mrs. Stinson, his home. White 
was a saddler, and Andrew Avorked with him at his trade 
for twelve or eighteen months. This fact I had never 
heard before, and was not mentioned in any life or 
sketch of General Jackson, then published. I asked 
Mrs. Stinson, if she was certain of the truth of her state- 
ment. She said she was, for she herself had seen him at 
work often at her uncle's, making saddles. I was then 
writing "Revolutionary Incidents," and wrote one on 
General Jackson in which I mentioned this fact. It was 
republished in a great many of the newspapers. Some 
time afterwards, I saw the first number of a life of An- 
drew Jackson, written by Amos SiH*dall, Postmaster- 
General, under President Jackson, in which it was stated 
by authority of General Jackson, that he did work for 
some time at the saddler's trade, after the close of the 
Pevolutionary w^ar. It is to be regretted that this life 
of Jackson, by JS»^idall, was never completed, and I do 
not know that more than one number of it w^as ever pub- 
lished. Parton's life of General Jackson, one of the 
most interesting biographies that I ever read, and pub- 
lished since his death, also mentions the fact of his work- 
ing at the saddler's trade. Strange it may appear to the 
royalty and aristocracy of Europe, that three of the 
Presidents, of this great Pepublic worked at mechanical 
trades. Jackson, a saddler, Johnson, a tailor, and Grant, 
a tanner ! I believe President Fillmore, too, worked at 
some mechanical trade, and President Lincoln, was a 
common laborer splitting rails in early youth. 

I inquired of IMrs. Stinson, if there was anything 
peculiar about Andrew Jackson, in his boyhood, and 
whether he displayed any extraordinary talents or genius. 
She replied that she herself was very young and not ca- 
pable of judging of his talents. She did not remember 
that there were any peculiar traits in his charac. ,'or 
that he was difterent from other boys of his age. She 
said that she liked him very much, and so did all of her 






/te 



28 Andrew Jackson. 

family. He was cordial and warm-hearted. He quit 
the saddler's trade and went to Salisbury^ North Caro- 
lina, to read law. She never saw him afterwards, or 
heard of him till the war of 1814, when he was fiolitino^ 
the Creek Indians. The old lady said if she were now 
to meet him she should still be inclined to call him An- 
drew. 

Mrs. Stinson had nothing to say about his being wild 
or frolicsome in his youth. Parton does tell a good 
many of his frolics at Salisbury, and I have heard that 
in pulling down some old house, which had been a retail 
shop in that town, an old day-book kept by the retailer, 
was discovered between the ceilings and weather-board- 
ing, in which Andrew Jackson, w^as charged with a 
goodly number of half-pints. 

* A man who displayed such turbulent passions in man- 
hood as General Jackson did, must have had a great deal 
of fire and recklessness in youth, wdiich either escaped the 
observation of a young girl like Mrs. Stinson, or passed 
out of her memory in old ao^e. Judaic Cheves mentioned 
to me how quickly the countenance of General Jackson 
could change from benign gentleness to terrific wrath. 
The Judge was seated by him at a public dinner in Phil- 
adelphia. He had never seen him before, and was struck 
with his gentle, benign countenance. The name of some 
one with whom Jackson had recently had a controversy 
w^as mentioned, and he turned his face to look in that 
direction. When the Judge looked at his countenance 
again, he said it reminded him of a thunder cloud, so 
dark, so angry, and so full of fire. 

The Hon. Richard Cunningham, of Charleston, told 
me that he once visited General Jackson, at the Her- 
mitage, and found him reading a book, which was laid on 
the table as he entered the room. The countenance of 
General Jackson, seemed terrific with rage and passion. 
In a moment, however, it changed, and was mild and gentle. 
Mr. Cunningham thought there must have been some- 
thing in the book which had excited him, and in the course 



Andrew Jackson. 29 

of the visit he opened the book to see what it was. He 
found that the old General had been reading Clay's 
speech on the Seminole war, in which he arraigned Gen- 
eral Jackson's conduct as arbitrary, tyrannical and law- 
less. 

The indomitable self-will of General Jackson, was pow- 
erful and is characteristically illustrated by the remark of 
a wag who heard a discussion between two religious 
persons after his death, whether he had gone to heaven 
or not. The wag said if General Jackson determined to 
go to heaven when he died the devil could not stop him. 
It is said by his biographer, Parton, that he never failed, 
but in one instance, to accomplish what he had deter- 
mined on, and that was the introduction of Mrs. Eaton 
into society in Washington. In order to accomplish this 
purpose he broke up his Cabinet, dismissed his niece from 
the White House, and fell out with most of his friends 
about the Federal City. 

General Jackson's manner, when excited, was as violent 
and stormy, as his self-will was perverse and indomitable. 
It is said, however, that there was always method in his 
madness. He very coolly considered every question first, 
and cautiously resolved upon his course of action; then he 
defended his action with to^vering passion and rage, which 
made persons believe that he always acted from impulse. 
Mr. Poinsett, who knew him well, said that he would 
often come to a correct conclusion without being able to 
a^ssign the proper reasons for it. In this respect he com- 
pared the old hero to a woman, and said his wisdom was 
of the heart and not of the head. 

James McDaniel, a negro trader from South Carolina, 
accidentally met General Jackson at a wayside hotel in 
Virginia, on his way to Washington, during our war of 
nullification in South Carolina, and inquired of him, jest- 
ingly, what he was going to do with the nullifiers? The 
General replied, " I was born in South Carolina, and there 
used to be a great many grape vines there. I hope there 
are still enough left to hang all the nullifiers with." In 



30 Andrew Jackson. 

one of his State papers he says that South Carohna is his 
native State. !^Irs. Stinson told me that he was born in 
South Carohna. But Parton shows very clearly that the 
house in which General Jackson ^vas born was a few yards 
beyond the South Carolina line, and in North Carolina. 
The house was supposed to be, at that time, in South Caro- 
lina, and South Carolinians were altogether his associates 
in boyhood. The Waxhaw settlement was in South Caro- 
lina, Avhere he went to school and attended church, where 
he was captured during the Revolutionary w^ar, and where 
he worked at the saddler's trade after the war was over. 

In speaking of General Jackson's striking appearance 
and courtly manner. General Waddy Thompson said to 
me, ^' If you were passing through a strange country and 
met him in the road, you would be so much impressed 
with his appearance and manner, that you would be in- 
duced to stop at the next house and inquire who he was. 
After fighting the Creek Indians in several most success- 
ful and brilliant engagements, he went to New Orleans 
to defend the city against the attack of the British under 
General Packenham. Mr. Livingston invited him to 
his house, and told Mrs. Livingston to prepare for his 
reception. She was a gay, fashionable lady from ISTew 
York, and expected to find in the General a very rough, 
unpolished hero. She invited a good many of her aris- 
tocratic friends to be present. The ladies were making 
some sarcastic remarks about the rough, uncouth hero, 
whom they were invited to meet, when General Jackson 
entered the room with the bearing and dignity of a prince, 
bowed gracefully and courteously to the ladies, took Mrs. 
Li\angston by the hand on being presented to her, seated 
her on the sofa, took his place by her side, and entered 
into a most pleasant and interesting conversation. The 
ladies immediately said to one another, instead of being 
the awkward, uncouth savage they expected to see, he 
had all the grace and high-bred manners of a court. 

It is remarkable that some persons of humble birth, 
with rough associates for companions all their lives, never- 



Andrew Jackson. 31 

theless, have the tone, bearing and grace of a gentleman, 
whilst others who were born and educated with refined 
and accomplished associates, are rustic and clownish in 
their manners. General Jackson^s early life was such as 
Mrs. Stinson stated it to be, and he moved to Tennessee 
immediately after his admission to the Bar, a State 
then having been settled with a hardy, rough, uneducated 
frontier population, living in log cabins and laboring in 
their fields, hunting wild animals and defending them- 
selves against the savages who surrounded them. How 
could any one, thus brought up and thus living, be re- 
fined, courteous and dignified unless these qualities were 
innate ? Jackson was a born hero and a gentleman. Mr. 
Jefferson, in describing Patrick Henry, says his educa- 
tion was very defective, and his associates had been over- 
seers and hunters, and yet, in the society of gentlemen, 
his manners were as good, and his conversation as correct 
as any of the company. He was one of nature's noble- 
men, and so was Jackson. Kings may make and un- 
make their nobles, but the nobility of nature cannot 
be chang^ed. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 

In the summer of 1846, President Johnson was 
pointed out to me, by Major Simpson, whilst sitting in 
his seat in the House of Representatives as a member of 
of Congress from Tennessee, who had once worked at 
the tailor's trade, in the village of Laurens, South Caro- 
lina. On my return home, I passed through Greenville, 
Tennessee, and was detained there a day, waiting for the 
Asheville stage. The residence and tailor shop of the 
future President of the United States were shown me by 
the landlord. The sign-board with the name of Andrew 
Johnson, was still over the door of the shop. No false 
shame had induced him to remove it. I thought then it 
showed the true greatness* of his character. 

I never saw President Johnson afterwards till my ap- 
pointment by him as Provisional Governor of South 
Carolina. His extrifordinary career, had however, fre- 
quently attracted my notice. I had read many of his 
speeches with great admiration for their soundness in 
reference to the powers of the Federal and State govern- 
ments. In 1858, my son, who was in the naval school 
at Annapolis, visited AYashington, and called to see Mr. 
Johnson, who was then United States Senator, and had 
been Governor of the State of Tennessee. He said to my 
son that he knew me very well. He said the same to 
Judge Frost and Governor Swain, just before my ap- 
pointment as Provisional Governor. When I went to 
Washington to get my commission and receive my in- 
structions, I said to the President that I would like to 
know how he came to appoint me? He replied, "I 
lived only one hundred and twenty-five miles from you, 



Andrew JohxVSOn. 33 

and of course knew all about you/' I tlionglit it likely he 
would say that he knew something about me^ or had seen 
me Avhilst he was living in South Carolina. But he 
made no allusion to any such knowledge or acquaintance. 
I have since been informed by a citizen of Greenville 
that he did remain here a short time after leaving Lau- 
rensville. 

President Johnson came to Laurens, C. H., South 
Carolina, in 1827, and remained there two years, work- 
ing as a journeyman tailor. He came from Raleigh, 
North Carolina, where he was born and served his ap- 
prenticeship. Whilst working at Laurens he became 
engaged to a young lady in the neighborhood, and went 
one Sunday morning to ask her mother, who was a 
widow lady, for the hand of her daughter. He told 
Governor Orr that he saw by the old lady's manner that 
she was not favorably disposed towards him. It was 
late in the evening before he could muster up courage to 
"pop the question." When he did so, the old lady told 
him very plainly that her daughter should not marry a 
tailor, and intimated that she suspected he wanted some 
of her negroes. The young tailor boy, and future Presi- 
dent of the United States, was so mortified at the rebuff 
he had received that he determined to quit Laurens, and 
did so the next day. 

How unfortunate for the daughter was the ill judg- 
ment of the mother. Had she given her consent her 
daughter might have been the occupant of the White 
House, mistress of ceremonies and fashion in Washington, 
receiving and entertaining foreign ministers and their 
ladies, instead of being as she is, the humble wife of a 
poor and obscure man. On the other hand, it might 
have disappointed the high destiny of the tailor boy. In- 
stead of being President of the United States, he might 
be still pursuing his humble vocation. But this is not 
very likely. A man with President Johnson's natural 
endowments, intellectually and morally, could hardly 



34 Andrew Johnson. 

pass through hfe in this American Repubhc, without 
elevating himself and acquiring honor and distinction. 

It is a remarkable and most w^onderful fact^ that Presi- 
dent Johnson never w^ent to school a day in his life I 
His father, who was a most w^orthy and excellent man, 
filling the office of town constable, in Raleigh, N. C.^ 
messenger of the bank and sexton of a church, died when 
his son was only two years old. The family were left in 
poverty, and at the age of ten years, Andrew w'as bound 
as an apprentice to the trade of a tailor. Whilst work- 
ing as an apprentice, some one came into the shop with a 
book of speeches, and read one to the boys. This speech 
delighted Andrew^ Johnson so much that he determined 
to learn to read himself. The book was given to him, 
and in this book, with the assistance of his fellows-appren- 
tices, he learned his letters, and learned to read ; after 
that, a book of some sort was ever his constant com- 
panion. His wife taught him to wTite and cipher after 
they were married. In the mean time he must have had 
his mind w^ell stored wdtli a great deal of useful reading, 

IMine host, John Simmons, of Laurens village, has 
frequently given me the early history of Andrew John- 
son, Avhilst there. He and Simmons slept together in 
the same bed, and ate together at the same table for a 
good portion of the tw^o years he remained at Laurens. 
He was a very sober, correct and industrious boy, and 
always spent his leisure time in reading. Mr. Simmons 
remembers well that he had constantly by him a book 
whilst at work. Colonel Garlington has given me the 
same account of Johnson's habits and unexceptionable de- 
portment whilst at Laurens. Mr. Samuel Murphy tells 
me that he remembers Andrew Johnson being in Green- 
ville, S. C, for a short time after he left Laurens. JNIr, 
Murphy says he w^as fond of music, never drank spirits, 
very industrious and quiet, talked but little, and always 
had a book by his side. 

From Greenville, South Carolina, Andrew Johnson 
w^ent to Greenville, Tennessee, where he established him- 



Andrew Johnson. 35 

self as a tailor, and soon acquired the confidence of the 
little community in which he lived. He was first elected 
one of the town council, then mayor of the village. In a 
few years he was elected a member of the I^egislature, 
State Senator, member .of- Congress and Governor of the 
State. Tlien he was elected to the United States Senate, 
appointed Military Governor of Tennessee, by President 
Lincoln, and elected Vice President of the United States. 
He now fills and has filled for three years past, witli sig- 
nal ability and fidelity to the constitution, the illustrious 
office of Chief Magistrate of this great American Re- 
public, once filled by the immortal Washington. 

Judge Huger said to me, thirty or forty years since, in 
advocating the election of Langdon Cheves to the Presi- 
dency, " What a beautiful illustration it would be of the 
23rinciples of our republican government, to see a man 
filling the chief magistracy of the Republic who had 
risen from the ranks of the people, without education, 
w^ealth or family influence, by his own exertions, talents^ 
patriotism and moral worth ! This has been most sig- 
nally the case with Andrew Johnson. It is wonderful 
how he should ever have overcome the obstacles in his 
path, even with his great talents, indomitable energy and 
perseverance. President Johnson is now one of the best 
writers and speakers in America. This is abundantly 
shown by his messages, and famous speeches in the Senate 
of the United States. He is also a gentleman of high 
attainments and scholarship. His manners are those of a 
high-bred gentleman, courteous and kind, simple, and 
unaffected, and at all times calm and dignified. In his 
intercourse with his fellow-men, there is no assumption 
of dignity or insolence of office about him. He receives 
pleasantly, cheerfully and kindly, all who approach him, 
whether humble or high, rich or poor. By nature, as 
well as education and habit. President Johnson is a 
Democrat. He loves the people sincerely and affec- 
tionately. If the Republicans supposed, by honoring 
and elevating Andrew Johnson to the Presidency, they 



36 Andrew Johnson. 

could wean him from his Democratic principles, greatly 
were they mistaken, and grievously have they paid the 
penalty of their mistake — a mistake which has rescued 
the country from usurpation, tyranny and oppression. 
He is a man of great firmness,- and most stubborn Avill. 
He has all the courage of Andrew Jackson, without his 
passionate indiscretions. Nothing can move him from 
his purpose, neither the seductions of office, nor the 
terrors of impeachment. In appearance he is a fine- 
looking gentleman, about medium height, Avell propor- 
tioned, and graceful in his person and address. His 
head is large and round, with full face, regular features, 
black hair, and piercing eyes. Andrew Johnson would 
be a marked man in any company or society in Europe 
or America. 

On my arrival in Washington, after my appointment 
as Provisional Governor of South Carolina, I called to 
see the President, by appointment, at three o'clock, with 
eight or ten gentlemen from the South. I gave him a 
true statement of the condition and feelings of the people 
of South Carolina, Avhich he listened to with profound 
attention and interest. He requested me to call on Mr. 
Seward, Secretary of State, and report the same statement 
to him. In regard to the reconstruction of the State of 
South Carolina, our vie^vs were the same, except as to the 
basis of representation on which the convention should be 
called. He insisted on the white basis, and was sus- 
tained by Governor Orr, who wais present. He likewise 
thought the parish system should be ignored in calling 
the convention. I urged that this should be left for the 
convention to destroy, and that taxation and population 
should be the basis of re2)resentation. He said to me, in 
the course of the discussion, that one reason for selecting 
me as a Provisional Governor was, that I lived in that 
portion of the State where there Avas the largest w^hite 
population. In regard to the rights of the States, and 
the constitutional powers of the general government, our 
views were identical. 



Andrew Johnson. 37 

The second visit I paid the President was at seven in 
the evening, and we remained closeted alone till ten. He 
said to nie tliat he Jiad always been eqnally opposed to 
disunion and abolition. He had tried hard to avoid both 
these issues. When the Southern Senators were resigning 
theil" seats he implored them to remain and defend the 
rights of the South, and save the government from falling 
into the hands of the abolitionists. He Avarned them that 
the consequences would be the destruction of their prop- 
erty in slaves, and the ruin of the South. Throughout 
his public life he said he had fought the secessionists on 
one side and the abolitionists on the other. He was for 
maintaining the Union and slavery both, but when the 
issue was forced on liim, he gave up slavery and adhered 
to the Union. 

I called to see him a third time, and told him I should 
leave the next morning for South Carolina. He asked 
me about issuing my proclamation, and when I informed 
him that I had already written and forw^arded it to 
Columbia for publication, he seemed surprised, and in- 
quired what I had said in it. I told him that I had re- 
stored the State government, and all its officers, on their 
taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, that I 
had done this to save the trouble of making appointments 
all over the State ; that there were no Union men in South 
Carolina to fill these offices, and that I had implicit con- 
fidence in the loyalty and fidelity of all the people in the 
State. He made no objections to anything contained in 
my proclamation, but thought I hacT acted very quickly 
in issuing it. I told him as Soutli Carolina was the first 
State to go out of the Union, I was anxious she should be 
the first to come back. 

I have seen President Johnson frequently during the 
past three years, and have had several pleasant conversa- 
tions with him. He always expressed the hope and belief 
that Congress would ultimately adopt his plan of recon- 
struction. He i^elied with great confidence on the people, 
and thought there would be a reaction at the JN^orth. 



38 Andrew Johnson. 

On one of my visits to him I found him addressing a re- 
ligions association for the rehef of Federal soldiers, and 
he used the follo^^dng language : " My religion embraces 
all sects, and I regard every honest man as my brother. 
My patriotism knows no North, no East, no West, no 
South, but embraces equally my whole country.'^ 

It has been said and widely circulated that President 
Johnson was intemperate. There never was, perhaps, 
less foundation for such a calumny. He has always been 
a most temperate man throughout his whole life. This 
A^ill be testified to by all who knew him intimately, 
whether friends or foes. Messrs. Burt, Ashemore and 
other members of Congress, who served with him for 
many years, assure me that no such thing was ever sus- 
pected whilst he was in Congress. Colonel Williams, of 
Greenville, Tennessee, wdio has known President Johnson 
all his life, and resided with him in the same village, and 
between whom there is a bitter feud, told me not long 
since, that no one ever saw Johnson drunk, or suspected 
him of drinking to excess. In all my visits to the Presi- 
dent, in the day time and at night, I am sure he was 
never under the influence of spirits or wine, in the 
slightest degree. When inaugurated as Vice-President, 
he was in feeble health, and just before making his speech, 
he was advised to take a glass of brandy. Not being ac- 
customed to the use of spirituous liquors, it did affect 
him, and the effect was noticed. This first gave rise to 
the slander. 

Colonel Williams told me that President Johnson, 
throughout life, had been a very industrious and econom- 
ical man. He managed his affairs with great j^rudence, 
and Avas thrifty whilst pursuing his trade. He was always 
])un( tual in the payment of his debts, and esteemed a very 
honest, correct and truthful man. This statement is en- 
titled to more weight, as it comes, not from a personal 
friend, but from a bitter personal enemy. He married a 
Miss McCarthy, who lived in Greenville, Tennessee, and 
whose father was an Irish shoemaker, as Colonel Williams 



Andrew Johnson. 39 

informed me. In one of his speeches, whilst a candidate 
for Governor, President Johnson paid a beautiful and 
touching compliment to his wife, which had a most 
thrilling effect on his audience. There was a vast crowd, 
or assemblage, of ladies and gentlemen present. Colonel 
Henry, his opponent, paid the ladies a very handsome 
compliment, in his address to the meeting, which was 
greatly admired by all present. President Johnson said 
he subscribed most heartily to every word of the eloquent 
eulogium which had been pronounced on the ladies. 
" There is no one,'' said he, " on this green globe, more 
indebted to woman than myself, or has stronger reasons 
for loving and admiring the sex. In my youth, and as I was 
entering on the busy scenes of life, jDoor and friendless, 
ignorant and obscure, a woman took me by the hand, 
taught me the rudiments of education, inspired my mind 
with a love of learning, and I owe to her all that I am 
or ever expect to be ; and that woman is my wife." The 
eifect of this expression was electrical. The audience 
seemed to forget, in this eloquent burst of a loving heart, 
the magnificent rhetorical compliment which they had 
just heard. 

Whilst waiting one day to see the President, in the 
room of his private secretary, Mrs. Clement Clay, of 
Alabama, came into the room for the same purpose. On 
ascertaining who she was, I went up and introduced my- 
self to her. The President was engaged, and w^e had to 
wait an hour before seeing him. After telling me all 
about the arrest and imprisonment of her husband. Sen- 
ator Clay, and the various interviews she had had with 
the President and Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, in re- 
lation to his release, she spoke of President Johnson, his 
appearance, manners and conversation. She said that one 
day she remarked to him it was very surprising they had 
never met in society in Washington before the war. She 
had spent a good portion of her time for several years in 
Washington, and he had been there for the last twenty 
years, as a member of Congress. President Johnson said 



40 Andrew Johnson. 

to her, in reply, that his early education and habits had 
unfitted him for society, and that moreover, he was so 
constantly eno^as^ed in attendino- to the business of his 
constituents, his duties in Congress, and trying to improve 
his mind, by reading and study, that he had no time to 
go into society or see company, unless on business. Mrs. 
Clay further remarked to me that she had very closely 
observed President Johnson, and really thought she could 
see an improvement in him every time she met him. She 
concurred with me in saying that his manners and con- 
versation would do credit to any gentleman in Europe or 
America. Mrs. Clay is a very highly accomplished and 
talented lady, and there is none more competent to judge 
of manners and refinement. * ^j^ ^i. >!« 

Since writing the above. President Johnson has been, 
as he predicted, impeached by the House of Representa- 
tives for high crimes and misdemeanors, in defending the 
constitution and civil liberty against the aggressions of 
Congress. He was acquitted by the conscientious votes 
of seven honest Republican Senators. On hearing of the 
acquittal of the President, I wrote him a congratulatory 
letter, and said : " That it required five righteous men, in 
olden times, to save a city from destruction by the wrath 
of God, but that two more than this number had saved 
the American Republic from dishonor and infamy.'^ 
When the impeachment of President Johnson was first 
voted by the House of Representatives, several persons 
asked me my opinion as to the result. I always answered 
that I should regard conviction as a foregone conclusion, 
but for the extraordinary luck which always attended 
Andrew Johnson. When his fortune seemed most des- 
perate, he was attended by this good genius and always 
rose higher in fame and distinction. When the civil war 
broke out, he was very odious to the South, and cordially 
hated by the abolitionists. But he was elected A^ice- 
President of the United States. When inaugurated as 
Vice-President, he was most cruelly slandered and tra- 
duced by his own party. Immediately, by the death of 



Andrew Johnson. 41. 

Abraham Lincoln, he became President of the United 
States. I thought it not unhkely that his impeachment 
and acquittal would cause the Democratic party to nomi- 
nate and elect him President. But although this w^as not 
done, yet the Southern States complimented him with 
their votes in the New York Convention. They WTre 
determined to show how highly they appreciated his noble 
stand in defence of their rights, the constitution and re- 
publican principles. 

During the war, I met in' Augusta, Georgia, a distin- 
guished lawyer from Nashville, Tennessee, who said to 
me, that he had seen most of the great men of America,, 
and although he w^as bitterly opposed to Andrew Johnson 
in politics, he believed him to be the greatest man he had 
ever seen. I must confess, that from my intercourse 
with the President, and from reading his speeches and 
messages, I regard him altogether the most remarkable 
man I have ever met. There are many men of more 
genius and brilliancy of intellect, but he is surpassed by 
none in wisdom, ability, patriotism and firmness. 



JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

John C. Calhoun stood pre-eminently above all others 
in South Carolina of my day and time. In early life I 
had a most exalted opinion of this distinguished Caro- 
linian, his talents, patriotism and purity of character. 
This opinion was formed from his general course in pub- 
lic life, his speeches in Congress and his administration of 
the war department, under President Monroe. Whilst 
going to school at Asheville, ]^s^. C, in 1822, I remember 
writing an article advocating his claims to the Presi- 
dency over those of Adams, Jackson, Clay and Craw- 
ford. In the summer of 1825, there was a public dinner 
given Mr. Calhoun at Greenville, S. C. I was one of 
the committee who extended to him the invitation, and pre- 
pared the toasts drunk, one of Avhich pointed to the 
Presidency as the crowning reward of his public life. 
This w^as the first time I ever had the pleasure of seeing 
Mr. Calhoun, and I was then a student of law in Judge 
Earle's office. The speech he made on that occasion was 
a very brief one, and the company was not large. Gen- 
eral Thompson, afterwards Minister to Mexico, presided 
at the dinner. Judge Earle, who was never an admirer 
of Mr. Calhoun, was not present, and left the village in 
order to avoid the dinner. He had been a Crawford 
man, and belonged to the political school of Judge Wil- 
liam Smith, of South Carolina. In the Presidential can- 
vass of 1824, Judge Eafle supported John Quincy 
Adams. He had no very high opinion of General Jack- 
son as a statesman, but was never very decided in his 
politics. 

The next time I saw Mr. Calhoun was at Pendleton 
Court, and it was the last time I spoke to him for many 



John C. Calhoun. 43 

years. During our political excitement, in 1832, in 
South Carolina, I became very strongly prejudiced 
against Mr. Calhoun, and it was not in my nature to 
seek the company of those I did not like. The total 
abandonment by Mr. Calhoun of his early national prin- 
ciples, and his zealous espousal of what he had once 
repudiated as the "Virginia abstraction," shook my con- 
fidence in his wisdom and steadfastness of pur]>ose in 
politics. I did not see how a great statesman could radi- 
cally change his political principles, and be both wdse 
and sincere. 

In 1845, I met Mr. Calhoun at the anniversary of the 
Pendleton Agricultural Society. I had been invited by 
the President of the Society, Major George Seaborn, to 
deliver the anniversary address on that occasion. After 
it was over Mr. Calhoun came up and complimented the 
effort I had made in the cause of agriculture. He was 
then starting to Alabama to look after his planting in- 
terest in that State, and expressed his regret at not being 
able to have me at his house, near the village of Pendle- 
ton. Mr. Calhoun w\as, at that time, very much inter- 
ested in farming, and he always made good crops. He 
paid great attention to the preservation and improvement 
of his lands. Hill-side ditching was introduced by him 
in this section of the State; and after completing this 
labor on his farm, he then turned his attention to ma- 
nuring his fields. He wisely remarked that it was of 
little value to manure till the land was prepared to 
retain it. 

JSTullification had passed over in South Carolina, and 
was an obsolete idea with all thinking and reflecting men. 
The asperities of party had subsided, and I ceased to think 
of Mr. Calhoun's inconsistencies and tergiversations in 
politics. I began once more to admire his brilliant genius 
and appreciate his public services in many respects. About 
a year after I met Mr. Calhoun in Washington, and had 
the pleasure of hearing him address the Senate on several 
occasions. I was very much struck with his earnest and 



44 John C. Calhoun. 

ardent mariner in debate. He spoke Avith great ease and 
fluency; his sentences were terse and his concKisions 
rapid. He seemed to regard more the idea expressed 
than the language in which it was uttered. His style of 
speaking pleased me more than the grand, solemn man- 
ner of Mr. Webster. He had all the feeling and fire of 
tlie orator, which I thought Mr. Webster w^anted in some 
measure. 

I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. Calhoun during 
my stay in Wasliington, with Governor McDuffie, Judge 
Butler and Mr. Burt of South Carolina. At the table 
there was an amusing discussion between him and Judge 
Butler on the location of national capitals. Mr. Calhoun 
remarked that the capital of a nation was always on one 
side, and never in the centre of a kingdom or empire. 
Judge Butler controverted this assertion, and instanced 
Spain and Jerusalem. Mr. Calhoun explained by stating 
that Madrid was a Moorish city, and not originally the 
capital of Spain. What he said in regard to Jerusalem 
I do not noAV remember with sufficient accuracy to state, 
but Mr. Calhoun Avas always well posted in reference to 
any theory which he advanced. If facts failed him, he 
would, nevertheless, support his theory with the most co- 
gent argument and reasoning. I remember hearing Hon. 
Warren R. Davis give an account of a discussion at a din- 
ner table between Mr. Calhoun and an English captain, 
in reference to the trade w^inds. The ciiptain listened 
very attentively to the theory, but said he had often 
crossed the equator, and his observations did not sustain 
Mr. Calhoun's theory ; nevertheless, Mr. Calhoun's argu- 
ment satisfied the party that he was correct, in opposition 
to the positive experience and observation of the English 
captain. In other words, the captain's facts were of less 
weight than Mr. Calhoun's argument. 

After the adjournment of Congress, I traveled to the 
Virginia Springs, in company with Mr. Calhoun, Gov. 
McDuffie and Mr. Burt. We were all in the same stage 
coach. Mr. Calhoun spoke of Clay's and Webster's 



John C. Calhoun. 45 

iiiannGr in debate. He said when Webster was worsted 
ill argument he felt it, and you saAV that he did feel it and 
know it. But Clay would never give any such manifes- 
tations. He never ackiio^^ ledged that he was worsted in 
debate, and Avould never let you see that he thought so. 
Mr. Calhoun said Colonel Benton was the greatest of 
humbugs, and could make more out of nothing than any 
other man in the world. " He ought,'' said Mr. Calhoun, 
" to have gone about all his lite with quack doctors, 
and written puHs for their medicines. Had he done so, 
he might have made a fortune." There was no kind 
feeling between Mr. Calhoun and Colonel Benton. 
Throughout life they were bitter personal enemies. Mr. 
Callioun had a bad opinion of the Colonel, and he recip- 
rocated it most cordially. 

When I left the Springs, to return home by the way 
of Abington and Greenville, Tennessee, Mr. Calhoun re- 
quested me to write him as to the condition of the roads 
and staging through the mountains. He and Mrs. Cal- 
houn intended returning to South Carolina over that 
route. He was anxious to visit Wythe county, where his 
ancestors had lived some time after their removal from 
Pennsylvania, and before they finally settled in Abbeville 
District, South Carolina. The roads and staging I found 
bad enough, and so reported to Mr. Calhoun. On their 
arrival in Greenville, S. C, Mrs. Calhoun said to me, as 
soon as I saw her : " Did you ever expect to see me alive, 
afier passing over those roads in Virginia and Ten- 
nessee ? " 

Whilst I was a candidate for Congress, in opposition 
to Governor Orr, I visited Mr. Calhoun twice in my 
electioneering tours through Pickens District. I never 
found a kinder man, or one more plain and unassuming 
in his manners, than Mr. Calhoun, anywhere ; but I was 
particularly struck with his kindness and winning man- 
ners at his own house. How true it is that greatness is 
never pretending or assuming. It is only the " would-l3e 
great man " who has to assume and pretend to M'hat he 



46 John C. Calhoun. 

has not. The first visit I paid Mr. Calhoun we were 
alone the whole day, and from ten o'clock till dinner was 
announced, I do not think either of us left our seats for a 
moment, nor was there scarcely a pause in conversation. 
He was in fine spirits, and his conversation was truly 
fascinating. It was not that of a studied speech or lec- 
ture in which Mr. Calhoun too often indulged with his 
admiring listeners. It was natural and simple, cordial 
and cheerful, amusing and instructive, giving and takings 
calling in the whole range of his life's experience, thought 
and learning. He spoke of his course in Congress, de- 
scribed his contemporaries, told anecdotes of Randolph, 
Lowndes, Jackson, Polk, Benton and others. He did 
not admire President Polk, and spoke of the Mexican 
war as most unfortunate. He did not believe that our 
armies could capture the city of Mexico or hold the 
country, if Ave conquered it. He spoke in high terms of 
the officers of the United States army, and said he knew 
thirty of those officers who were capable of commanding 
the largest armies of Europe. 

When the Missouri question was on the tapis in Con- 
gress, Mr. Calhoun said he suggested to Mr. Lowndes, 
that Congress having authorized the formation of a State 
constitution, the people of Missouri, if not admitted into 
the Union, would be a legal independent State of the 
Union, and beyond the control of the United States. In 
speaking of the Federal Union, he said the love of it 
with the American people was stronger than their love of 
liberty. I was greatly shocked, as a Union man, witli 
this idea, and did not assent to it. I contended that tlie 
love of the Union with the American people was only for 
the purpose of maintaining their liberty and independence. 
But it would seem from our present political condition, 
that Mr. Calhoun was right, and I was wrong. A large 
portion of the Northern people seem willing to establish 
a military despotism to preserve the Union ; and I A\'as 
extremely mortifial to see that a portion of the Southern 



John C. Calhoun. 47 

people are willing to acquiesce in this despotism to get 
back into the Union. 

Great men are often egotists. Cicero and Demosthenes 
were eminently so. Mr. Calhoun was not without this 
foible of greatness any more than he was of another in- 
firmity^ which^ it is said, belongs to all great men — ambi- 
tion. He liked very much to talk of himself, and he 
always had the good fortune to make the subject exceed- 
ingly interesting and captivating to his hearers. Mr. 
Calhoun was a man of the very highest mental energy 
and activity. In this respect no one surpassed him. But 
he was unfortunate in always having the great powers of 
his mind concentrated on one subject at a time. He 
thought and reasoned so rapidly and directly, and was so 
absorbed by the one subject for the time being, that he 
pursued the argument without considering how the ques- 
tion would affect something else. This was too much his 
character to be a wise statesman or a safe counsellor. 
Whilst the advocate of a great system of internal im- 
provements, he thought of nothing but the great social 
and commercial blessings which it would bestow upon 
the country. He did not stop to consider, or turn to the 
right or left, to see how such a system would strengthen 
the powers of the national government and crush those 
of the States. When he became the advocate of a tariff 
for protection, he thought only of building up our na- 
tional independence and encouraging American labor. 
He did not reflect on its sectional bearing, or stop to con- 
sider that one portion of the United States would not find 
it profitable to engage in manufacturing. When he be- 
came the champion of nullification, if not its author, he 
saw in it nothing more than a remedy for getting rid of 
the onerous exactions of the tariff system for protection, 
which he himself had formerly advocated through the 
highest and most patriotic motives. He did not consider 
whether or not nullification would make our national 
Union a rope of sand. This did not appertain to the one 
idea which had possessed his great mind, and which was 



48 John C. Calhoun. 

to break down the system of protection. In pursuing 
one question he lost sight of all others. How many 
thousands of such men of smaller minds do we not meet 
in ordinary life? They are forever wrong, and always 
changing their opinions, because they are always on the 
extreme and never right. Philosophy teaches us that ex- 
tremes are always dangerous, and that the path of wisdom 
and safety is ever a middle course. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Calhoun, throughout his brilliant 
career as an American statesman was jumping from one 
extreme to another in politics. From the extreme of na- 
tional powers under the constitution, bordering on con- 
solidation, to the extreme of State's rights, bordering on 
the destruction of all national power. From the extreme 
of protection to no protection, not even incidental, in lay- 
ing duties for revenue. From the extreme of internal 
improvements, to the denial of any such power on the 
part of the general government. From the advocacy of 
a national bank, to the denial of the power to establish 
such an institution ! At one time General Jackson was, 
in the opinion of Mr. Calhoun, a great patriot and incor- 
ruptible man ; then he was a great tyrant and utterly 
corrupt. At one time, in a letter to Governor Noble, he 
urged the election of President and Vice-President by the 
people, then he thought, in the latter part of his life, 
nothing more ruinous and suicidal in South Carolina. In 
1 8 1 2, he was the champion of the war, but on the Oregon 
question his speech is a most masterly vindication of the 
peace policy. War was first the greatest blessing and 
then the greatest curse. Mr. Calhoun was the advocate 
of the election of General Taylor, but very soon saw that 
he was not the right man in the right place. In order 
to break down General Jackson's administration, Mr. 
Calhoun became a Whig and the ally of Clay and Web- 
ster. He then abandoned the Whig party, and because 
Colonel Preston and General Thompson would not do 
so likewise, he drove one from the Senate and took the 



John C. Calhoun. 49 

stump to crush the other. It is, however, the fate of 
genius to be erratic. 

For many years Mi*. Calhoun was absohite in South 
CaroUua, and all who sought promotion in the State had 
to follow him and sweai' by him. He thought for the 
State and crushed out all independence of thought in 
those below him. It is said by the historian that on the 
death of Henry the Eighth, of England, that kingdom 
breathed more freel}\ I thought, alter the death of Mr. 
Calhoun, the peo])le of South Carolina could think more 
independently. Mr. C-allioun seldom made quotations in 
his speeches or writings. He relied on no authority save 
the resources of his own great mind. His style was very 
much that of the greatest and most original thinker of 
ancient times, the great Stagyrite. In style there is a 
striking similarity between the writings of Mr. Calhoun 
and Aristotle's ''Ethics'' and "Politics." 

In Mr. Calhoun's last moments, he said nothing about 
religion, and I mentioned the fact to Governor Orr, who 
Ayas with him when he died in Washington. The Gov- 
ernor said that Mr. Calhouii had no idea of dying, and 
had not even given up, at the time, the hope of being 
President of the United States. The Governor told me 
that Mr. Calhoun was a Unitarian in religion. 

Mr. Calhoun was greatly admired and loved by all of 
his neighbors about Pendleton. They knew him best in 
private life, and their good opinion is worth a good deal. 
His truth, sincerity, and sterling integrity were never 
doubted by those who knew him best and loved him 
most. In public life, no matter what may have been his 
errors and inconsistencies, no one ever charged him with 
corruption or intrigue, or dishonor in the charge of his 
public duties. Perhaps there is no American statesman 
whose priyate life and moral character are more unex- 
ceptionable than that of John C. Calhoun's. He was a 
statesman of whom South Carolina may well be proud, 
and whose genius would have placed him in the front 
rank of great men in any age or country. 



HENRY CLAY. 



It has been suggested to me by the Hon. Lyman C. 
Draper, Secretary of the Historical Society of AVisconsin, 
that I ought to write a sketch of Henry Clay, to accom- 
pany those I have written of his great contemporaries in 
the United States Senate, Webster, Calhoun, Benton, 
Crittenden and Hayne. In accordance with this sugges- 
tion and wish of Mr. Draper, I have concluded to give 
a brief sketch of the life and character of the great orator 
of the West, ahhough I never had the pleasure of meet- 
ing him in private or pubhc Kte. 

It has been truthfully said of Mr. Clay, that " he A^as 
destined for a leader, and everywhere he asserted his 
destiny." " He came in contact, during his long, event- 
ful life with men of all ranks and professions; but he 
never felt that he w^as in the presence of a man superior 
to himself" In the assembling of the people, at the 
Bar, in the Senate, everwhere ^a ithin the circle of his 
personal presence, he assumed and maintained a position 
of pre-eminence. When told by Mr. Calhoun, in debate, 
on the compromise of the Tariff, that he was his master 
iu arranging the terms, with a burst of scornful passion, 
he replied; "You my master ! I would not own you as 
my slave !" It was this audacity and self-reliance, with 
his high intellectual and moral qualities, that made him a 
great man and a leader of men Avherever he was thrown 
by foi-time. It is said that IN'apoleou, at the first meet- 
ing of the three consuls just appointed by the Revolu- 
tionary (xovernmeut of France, very cooly seated himself 
as chairman Avithout asking the consent of his associates. 
Much is owing to audacious assumption for success in 



Henry Clay. 51 

life. Some meu are naturally assumiDg and imperious, 
whilst others of equal talents are timid and yielding. 
King George tlie Third of Great Britain complained of 
his Lord Chancellor Erskine^s assumption in his presence, 
and said that he approached his majesty with an air and 
bearing as imperious as Napoleon could have assumed 
after the battle of Austerlitz ! 

But notwithstanding all of Mr. Clay's imperiousness 
and domineering disposition, he had the faculty of at- 
taching men to him and making them his personal 
friends, which no other statesman ever had in America. 
General Jackson had more popularity with the masses, 
but Clay had more personal friends. It was hard for 
any one to resist his fascination, whether indifferent, or 
hostile, wlien they approached him. General Glasscock, 
of Georgia, refused to be introduced to Mr. Clay, because 
he was opposed to him, and hated him, and feared that 
he might be won over as others had been by his mes- 
meric influence ! But it was Mr. Clay's misfortune in 
life to find, on several occasions, that self-interest and 
party success ^\^ere nnich stronger in the human breast 
than friendship ! Had his friends stu(;k to him in the 
convention which nominated General Harrison and 
General Taylor, he would have been twice President of 
the United States. It was once remarked by Mr. Clay, 
that it always happened, when lie could have been elected 
President, his friends failed to nominate him, and when 
he stood no chance of election, they never failed to put 
him in the field. The remark was literally true. 

As a popular orator, Mr. Clay, perhaps, had no su- 
perior in the United States. William Pinkney, of 
Maryland, was altogether a more polished orator, had 
more learning, greater ability, more grace and more 
of the rhetoric of eloquence. His orations and flowery 
arguments would have been preferred by the learned and 
highly educated scholar or judge. But there was a 
mesmerism in the eloquence of Clay which led captive 
his audience on all occasions. Mr. Calhoun, as a logical 



52 Henry Clay. 

reasoner, was greatly his superior. His speeches ^soukl 
convince the intellect or head, whilst Clay's would con- 
vince the heart. Webster was, in the opinion of very 
many, a greater parliamentary debater than either. His 
reply to Hayne is proof conclusive on this subject, which 
I have always regarded as the most perfect and complete 
parliamentary effort that I ever read, William Pinkney's 
great speech on the Missoini compromise not excepted. 

Henry Clay was born in Hanover county, Virginia, 
in 1777, April 12th. His father was a Baptist preacher, 
and died in 1782, leaving a widow and seven ^children. 
They were very poor and humble in life. Henry was 
the fifth child and his education was very defective. His 
mother is said to have been a woman of fine intellect and 
fervent piety. I have always contended that there never 
was a great man who had not a great mother. She may 
have been humble and uneducated, but possessed a great 
mind. Washington's mother was such, and so was 
Franklin's. Lord Bacon's mother was a very extra- 
ordinary woman for her intellectual endowments. JN^apo- 
leon Bonaparte's mother had not the culture of Lord 
Bacon's, but by nature she was no doubt equally in- 
tellectual. The world has never perhaps produced two 
greater men than Bacon and Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The mother of Henry Clay married again ten years 
after the death of her husband, and moved to Kentucky. 
Henry went into a small retail store in Richmond, and 
soon left this position for that of Deputy Clerk of the 
High (V)urt of Chancery, where he served four years, 
and then commenced the study of law in the office of 
Robert Brooks, Attorney General of Virginia. Dinging 
his clerkship, he attracted tlie notice of Chancellor 
^\"ythe, and was employed by him as amanuensis. He 
Avrote a beautiful liand. After his admission to the Bar, 
he moved to Kentucky and settled at Lexington. He 
said, many years afterwards, that his ambition at that 
time Avas to make five lumdred dollars a year ! But lie 
soon got into a very hicratiyc practice, Avhich his bi- 



Henry Clay. 53 

ognipher .say.s, " was uo doubt owing to his >viniiiDg ad- 
dress, and to the charm of a frank, gallant, cordial 
manner." 

Hih' first elfort before a popular assembly in Lexing- 
ton, ^vhen he was only t>venty-t\vo years, had electrified 
his audience to such a degree that they hoisted him on 
their shoulders, carried liim to a carriage, and pulled the 
carriage through the streets ! He was soon after elected 
a* member of the Legislature, during his absence from 
the county. In 1806 he was chosen United States 
Senator to fill the vacancy claused by the resignation of 
General Adair. He ^vas not then thirty years old, and 
consequently not eligible to a seat in the Senate, according 
to the Federal Constitution. How he took his seat, and 
the oath of oftice, I have never seen explained. After 
the expiration of his Senatorial term, which Avas only for 
a few months, he was again elected member of the Legis- 
latiu^e of Kentucky, and the year afterwards Speaker of 
the House. In 1809 he was again elected to the United 
States Senate, to fill a vacancy for t^vo years. In 1811, 
lie Avas elected to a seat in the House of Representatives 
of the United States, and when the House was organized 
he was elected Speaker. This was very extraordinary, 
for a new member to be elected to preside over the 
House as soon as he took his seat in that body ! Years 
after\vards, John Randolph, in one of his philippics on 
Mr* Clay's ambition, said he strided from the door of the 
Hall as soon as he entered it, to the Speaker's chair ! 

Messrs. Clay, Calhoun, Cheves, Bibb, Grundy and 
Lowndes messed together, and were dubbed "the War 
Mess." They were tlie most zealous advocates of the 
war of 1812, and forced President Madison to send his 
war message to the House. Judge Cheves said that 
when his mess received the intelligence of our first success 
in the war on the ocean, they were all so much elated 
with the news that they got up, joined hands, and 
danced over the floor ! It would have been a spectacle 
worth witnessing to sec such men as Clay, Calhoun, 



54 Henry Clay. 

Cheves and I^owiules joining in a "stag dance!" In 
1814 Mr. Clay resigned the speakership of tlie House, 
and was appointed minister to treat for peace Avitli Great 
Britain. 

After the why was over, Mr. Clay voted for the com- 
pensation bill, as it was called, giving the members of Con- 
gress fifteen himdred dollars compensation for each session, 
instead of their per diem of eight dollars. Tliis measure cre- 
ated almost as much dissatisfaction with the ])eople as the 
recent " salary grab " or back pay of members. The com- 
pensation of a member of Congress is now seven thou- 
sand five hundred dollars annually ! What a change has 
come over the people of the United States ! Mr. Clay 
Avas opposed in his district by General Pope who had 
lost one hand. An Irish barber in Lexington, who had 
been a ^varm su])porter of Mr. Clay in all of his previous 
elections, no^v declared that he was going to vote for 
" the man that could put but one hand into the treas- 
ury." An old hunter of Kentucky told Mr. Clay that 
he could not vote for him any longer. Mr. Clay in- 
quired of him if his rifle with Avhich he had hunted for 
years, "were to snap once, whether he would throw it 
away, or pick the flint and try it again." This was an 
illustration which came home to the old hunter, and his 
cry, during the canvass, was, " Pick the flint, and try it 
again." 

I remember hearing Judge Cheves say that he knew 
Mr. Clay very intimately, and boarded in the same 
house with him for a considerable time, and never heard 
him speak, in private conversation, disparagingly of any 
one. He said he was remarkable in tliis respect. But 
he could say, and did say, very bitter things of his oppo- 
nents in public. Mr. Poinsett told me that he was 
present at a large dinner party in Washington, after 
Buchanan's first appointment as Minister abroad. Clay 
and the newly appointed minister were at the dinner. 
Mr. Buchanan was then a very devoted friend of Gen- 
eral Jackson and the Democratic jwrty ; but formerly 



Henry Clay. 55 

luid belonged to the Federal party. Mr. Clay ironically 
(ionipliniented Buchanan on his appointment, and offered 
to give him his court dress which he wore as minister in 
1814. ''It is a little rusty," said he, ''but, you know, 
Buchanan, you can turn the Goat^ 

In consequence of Mr. Clay's caustic language in 
debate, and the se\^erity of* the remarks of his opponents, 
he was drawn into several duels in the course of his life. 
The most noted one ^vas with John Randolph, of Roan- 
oke. In speaking of the coalition between Adams and 
Clay, he said it was a Union between the Puritan and 
Blackleg ! This expression Mr. Clay determined to re- 
sent, and called the eccentric Senator to the field of 
honor. Shots ^vere exchanged, and the second time 
Randolph fired\ in the air. Their seconds interfered and 
the affair -was adjusted. On one occasion Mr. Clay had 
a fisticuff in court with a brother lawyer, and the pre- 
siding judge fined them five dollars ea(;h ! 

I cannot undertake, in this sketch, to give Mr. Clay's 
public course in Congress, or mention the various can- 
vasses he had for the Presidency. In entering public life 
he was opposed to a national bank and afterwards became 
its great advocate. He was ahvays in favor of g(^:ei?«-l 
emancipation of slavery by the States. He was the 
great champion of the Tariffs and Internal Improve- 
ments. He advocated the recognition of the South 
American republics, and that of Greece also. He was 
the great compromiser between the North and the South 
on several occasions, and for which his country owed 
him the Presidency. But the politicians of the United 
States have cared nothing for years past for talents, in- 
tegrity or public services in making their nominations for 
the Presidency. Availability is the only consideration 
which can influence them, and it is not likely that any 
great statesman will ever hereafter be elected President 
of the United States. 



WILLIAM C. PRESTON. 

There have been few public men who possessed such a 
combination of high endowments, noble qualities and rare 
accomplishments as Colonel William Campbell Preston. 
He was one of nature's noblemen, in person, head and 
heart. His figure was striking and commanding. He 
was tall and well proportioned in his person. His man- 
ners were high-bred and courtly. In heart he was kind, 
generous and affectionate. His character, in public and 
private, was pure and spotless. His intellectual qualities 
were brilliant and dazzling. He was a finished scholar, 
an accomplished orator, and Avise statesman. Many of 
his bursts of eloquence, in the Legislature of South Caro- 
lina, and in the American Senate, and before po])ular 
assemblies, are equal to those of Burke and Chatham. 

I have heard Colonel Preston before po]3ular assem- 
blies, at the bar and in the Legislature, and I never heard 
him on any occasion when he did not let fall from his 
lips some of the prettiest expressions and most heart-stir- 
ring w^ords ever uttered by a public speaker. His style 
was always fervid and rhetorical. His gestures, how- 
ever, did not strike me as being graceful or studied, whilst 
I could not divest myself of the idea that his language 
Avas studied, and did not flow from the inspiration of the 
moment. It was too ornate to be natural, whilst I 
thought his gestures were too awkward to be studied. It 
might have been said of him that he was a man of nature 
and art. He had the kindred blood of Patrick Henry 
coursing through his veins and the kindred eloquence of 
this great Virginia orator flowing from his lips. No one 
could look at him or hear him speak a word in coiiq)any 



William C. Preston. 57 

without being iiiipressed av iili the idea that he was a great 
niau and an accompHshed gentleman. He was a man of 
fine Kteraiy taste, as well as great scholarship. I never 
saw a private letter of Colonel Preston's that did not con- 
tain some gem of an expressioiL 

His reputation in the Senate of the United States was 
not surpassed by that of any one of his compeers for 
thrilling eloquence. iVs a statesman he may have had his 
superiors in that illustrious body, but as an orator he at 
least equaled any of them. He was a warm partisan in 
])olitics, and a fierce Nullifier in the beginning of his po- 
litical career. But he died a most devoted Union man. 
He had seen the folly of nullification, and A\as 02)posed 
to secession. He began to reflect, in the latter part of 
his life, on the effects of disunion, and foresaw the dread- 
ful consequences of an attempt to break up a great and 
])owerf ul government like that of the American Republic. 
His hope was, just before his death, that his own dear 
A^irginia would, like a great seventy-four gun ship, throw 
herself across the stream of disunion and stop the tide of 
disaffection which was rolling on from the South. 

In private life he was most amiable, kind-hearted and 
generous, attaching every one to him who came within 
the sphere of his acquaintance. As President of the South 
Carolina College, he won the affections of all the students, 
and endeared them to him in a remarkable degree. When 
he entered the Senate of the United States he was in op- 
position to General Jackson and his administration. All 
the South Carolina Nullifiers became Whigs, and united 
with Clay and Webster to break down the administra- 
tion. In a few years Mr. Calhoun and most of his friends 
broke from the great Whig party and again joined the 
Democracy. Colonel Preston and Gen. Waddy Thomp- 
son persevered in their error and remained consistent and 
true to their mistaken principles. This threw them in 
opposition to their State, which was under the absolute 
control of Mr. Calhoun. Colonel Preston resigned his 
seat in the Senate, and resumed the practice of his pro- 



58 William C. Preston. 

fossion. In his arguniciits on tlieeiivnit and in the Court 
of Appeals he proved liiniself an able logieian as well as 
a brilliant rhetorician. Xo lawyer argued his cases with 
greater ability or ^\•as more successful in his practice. 

Colonel Preston was born in Philackl pMa. His father 
\vas at that time a member of Congress^ and had his 
family there with him. When fifteen years old, as he 
told me not long before his death, he started to Florida 
to spend the winter, on account of a pulmonary afPection 
Avhich threatened him. In passing through Greenville 
District, South Carolina, on his Avay to Florida, he stopped 
at old Judge Edwards', in the upper part of the dis- 
trict, to stay all night. Edwards had been a county 
court Judge, and was then a member of the Legislature. 
He was starting to Columbia to attend the session of the 
Legislature, and jjursuaded Colonel Preston to go on with 
him and go from there to Florida. When they arrived 
at Columbia, Colonel Preston concluded to remain there 
and enter college. A¥hilst in college he became ac- 
quainted Avitli Miss Coulter, whom he afterwards married. 
In this way he became a citizen of South Carolina. How 
seemingly accidental is ever}i:hing in life. Col. Preston, 
a A^irginian, and ever proud of the old Commonwealth, 
Avas accidentally born in Pennsylvania, and, as it were, 
robbed of his birthright. He became a citizen of South 
Carolina by accidentally meeting an old man, and the 
further accident of falling in love whilst in colleo^e. His 
reputation for talents and eloquence in college was un- 
equaled. I have heard his classmates say that he Avas 
regarded as the most brilliant young man who had ever 
entered that institution. But the highest honors of his 
class were awarded to Henry L. Pinckney, of Charleston. 
Soon after graduating he made the tour of Europe with 
Hugh S. Legare. AVhilst abroad he became acquainted 
^\ith. Washington Irving, and they were ever afterwards 
fast friends throughout life. 

Colonel Preston was, for several years after he resigned 
the Presidenc}' of the South Carolina College, a member 



WiLr.iAM C. Preston. 59 

of the Board of Ti'ustees of the college. He iDtroduced 
resolutions in that body to convert the college into a uni- 
versity. I seconded his resolutions, and we tried in vain 
to pass them. Afterwards, at the suggestion of Colonel 
Preston, I introduced a bill into the Legislature to ac- 
complish the same purpose, and Colonel Preston exerted 
his influence in favor of it. But the change was not 
made till years afterwards, when it was adopted on ni}^ 
recommendation as Provisional Governor of the State. 
The Colonel submitted his views in writing whilst re- 
siding near the Virginia University, and wrote me several 
letters on the subject. 

On another very important subject, I received from 
Colonel Preston most essential aid, which failed of success 
till accomplished under the Provisional Government of 
the State. This was the election of President and Vice- 
President by the people. It was a question in which he 
took a deep interest. I remember his coming frequently 
to my seat in the Senate of South Carolina whilst the 
question was under discussion in that body, and posting 
me with documents and arguments for the debate. The 
election had been given to the people of Presidential 
electors in every State but South Carolina. The con- 
servatism of South Carolina was too strong to make the 
change till after the war, when everything was changed 
in the State. 

In the latter part of his life Colonel Preston was par- 
alyzed, and had to use crutches in walking over the 
house. In this sad condition his young and beautiful 
Avife watched over him with a care, aftection and devotion 
which love alone can prompt. He survived her, how- 
ever, several years, a noble wreck of himself. He left no 
descendant. His only daughter, by his first wife, died 
before him, and before her marriage which was in con- 
templation. The Athenaeum in Columbia was founded 
by him, and he gave to the institution his entire librar}-. 
He spent the greater part of his time for several years 
before his deatli in Virginia. T met him a short time 



60 WiJ.T>JAM C. Preston. 

before Lis dentli j-eturiiino; on the railroad from Virginia. 
He spolce of tlie ])lea>siire it had given liim to revisit the 
people amongst whom he had l)een l)ronght iij), and once 
more to share tlieir bountiful Jiospitality. The Colonel 
was a very religions man, and a devoted member of the 
Episcopal Church for many years ]ir(>vious to his 
death. 

When Webster visited Columl)ia he was the guest of 
Colonel Preston, who at tliat time Avas President of the 
college. They had been associated t^n^'ifllirt, in the Senate 
of the United States as members of the great AV^hig party. 
A number of gentlemen and ladies were invited to Col. 
Preston's that evening to meet Mr. Webster. In the 
course of the evening the students of the college came in 
front of the piazza Avith a band of music, and Webster 
A\'ent out to address them. His s})eech Avas very brief, 
and I thought hardly respectful to the young gentlemen. 
He manifested no feeling or interest in the compliment 
paid him. The next day Mr. AVebster was invited to ad- 
dress the students in the college chapel. The judges and 
lawyers attending the Court of Appeals, and the ladies 
and gentlemen of Columbia, were all in attendance. Gov. 
Adams and myself, as trustees of the college, were sent to 
escort Mr. AVebster and Colonel Preston to the chapel. 
As we were going over to the chapel, some one remarked 
that AVebster ought to manifest more feeling and cordiality 
towards the students than he had done the evening be- 
fore. Colonel Preston touched his own breast and said, 
^^I am afraid he is Avanting in heart.'' The speech Avas 
again a failure. I thought Colonel James FarroAV, the 
student Avho addressed him on the part of the college, 
made the happier effort of the tAvo. During the Avhole 
of AVebster's stay in Columbia, I heard him but once at 
all interested and animated in coiiA'ersation or speaking, 
and that AA^as at the table of Dr. Gibbes. The lar2:e din- 
ner party given him by Governor Johnson, as Governor 
of the State, AA-as a very dull affair. He seemed deter- 
jnined not to be roused uj) in conversation or speaking. 



WlLLTAlM C. PrESTOX. 61 

But he liticl been in Charleston the week before, where lie 
had been feasted till he was broken down. His conver- 
sation, however, at Dr. Gibbes's was charming and 
brilliant. 

For several }'ears in the latter part of his life, Colonel 
Preston spent a portion of the summer at Gen. Thomp- 
son's, in Greenville, where I saw a great deal of him, and 
received from him much valuable instrnction. He Avas 
indeed a most cordial, Avarm-hearted and genial man. 
His friends were strongly attached to him, and few pul^lic 
men in South Carolina had more warm, personal friends 
till his severance from Mr. Calhonn in politics. Great 
men will have their diflPerences, and will, occasionally, 
dis])lay their little jealonsies and ill feelings like humbler 
mortals. I heard Colonel Preston remark, at his own 
table, soon after the death of Mr. Calhoun, that it was 
the interposition of Providence for the good of the conntry 
in taking oif Mr. Calhonn at that time. He thought 
South Carolina would then have peace and quiet once 
more. But in this he was greatly mistaken, as the result 
showed. Had Mr. Calhoun been livino^ at the com- 
mencement of our sectional Avar, he might ha\'e opposed 
it and stayed the attempted revolution. 

Whilst in the Senate together, Colonel Preston thought 
Mr. Calhoun seemed to think that he ought in all mat- 
ters to follow implicitly in his lead. This entire surrender 
of his judgment to that of another was what Colonel 
Preston could not tolerate, and his ]>roud spirit rebelled 
against all dictation. I once heard Judge Withers sav 
that Governor Miller made the same complaint of Mr. 
Calhoun whilst he was his colleague in the Senate, and 
that this compelled him to withdraw from the Senate. 
Governor Hammond once made a remark, that he had 
much rather be Calhoun's successor than his colleague in 
tlie United States Senate. 

Colonel Preston was most amiable, coiu'teous and 
ahvays peaceably inclined, and yet he had a great many 
personal difficulties and several fights in the course of his 



(V2 William C. Preston. 

lilb. There was a very amusing one bet^veen him and 
Colonel James O'Hanlon, in which they were both very 
badly used up. Colonel O'Hanlon had written some 
political squib against him in the days of nullification, 
and the Colonel determined to resent it at once and chas- 
tise O'Hanlon's insolence, ^o one Avas present to witness 
the trial of their manhood, but both carried off serious 
marks of the rencontre. In one of liis public speeches, 
Colonel Preston mentioned the Cunninghams and Mc- 
Clurghs as tories of the Revolution, which drew from 
Captain Robert Cunningham a challenge. They met in 
Augusta to fight, but friends interposed and the difficulty 
Avas amicabl}' adjusted. The Colonel was very often 
witty and severe in his remarks Avithout seeming to be 
conscious of it. In repartee he A\as ahvays A'ery happy. 
On one occasion there A^^as some jesting betAveen him and 
General Winfield Scott, as to their re-^pectiA^e ages. The 
General contended that the Colonel AA^as about his oavu 
age. Preston replied, " General Scott, Avhen I Avas a 
school-boy, I remember thinking that you Avere one of 
those men that Plutarch had Avritten about." This, no 
doubt, gratified the A^anity of General Scott, and made 
him Aviiling to acknoAA- ledge his superior age. 

It is said of Edmund Burke that many of his most 
brilliant speeches in the British Parliament, Avliich AA^ere 
read oA^er and over again Avith pleasure and admiration 
after they Avere printed, Avere not at all appreciated by his 
audience Avlien he delivered them. The rcA^erse of this 
Avas the case Avith Colonel Preston. No one ever grcAV 
tired of listening to him Avhilst he Avas speaking, but his 
speeches, when read, did not thrill the heart as they did 
A\Iien he spoke them. The same Avas certainly true Avith 
his great kinsman, Patrick Henry. The speeches pre- 
served of this w^^nderful orator glA^e us a A^ery faint idea 
of his el()(|uence. I'lic same may be said in regard to the 
speecihes of Colonel Preston. Mr. Jciferson, in s]^eaking 
of an early cifort of Patrick Hemy's, wlilch he lieard, 
said that lie could not remember what was spoken so 
well as the thrllllnir effect which It had on him. 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 

I went with General Thompson, one Sunday evening, 
to call on Mr. Webster, in the City of Washington. It 
^\'a8 in the summer of 1846, and the great defender of 
the Constitution had said to the General that he ^vould 
V)e glad to see us at any time. He was then a Senator, 
and resided in a plain, neat house, with his family. This 
was my first introduction to him, and the first time I had 
ever had the honor of seeing him. He was seated in his 
piazza, ^\ ith his coat oif, and his solid, bulky figure, not 
very graceful, in his shirt sleeves, reminded me of some 
substantial old farmer, who had shaved, and was clean 
(h'essed on Sunday, Avaiting for Monday morning, to go 
to plowing again. He immediately ordered refreshments, 
took a drink of brandy and water himself, and put on 
his coat. Then he commenced one of the most brilliant 
conversations I liad ever listened to. It ^^•as a sort of 
lecture on the history and progress of the United States. 
General Thompson, who is himself a great talker, and a 
very bad listener, was so much interested in the discourse, 
that lie did not attempt to interrupt it or put in a word. 

Mr. Webster stated that Talleyrand, after his return to 
France from the United States, was asked about the war- 
like spirit of the Americans. He replied that they had a 
great deal of it, but gave vent to it only in making war 
against their vast forests, cutting down the timber, kill- 
ing the wild beasts, and cultivating the soil, then march- 
ing on some wilder and remoter region, to conquer that 
in the same ^vay. Mr. A^^ebster said there never was a 
pe()])le more restless and colonizing than the people of the 
(United States. He exjK-cted after they had got llirougli 



64 Daniel AVebsteii. 

with Calilbniia and Oregon, they wonld come ronud and 
colonize old Plymouth again. 

I had the pleasure of liearing Mr. Webster speak, on 
several occasions, in tlie Senate. On one occasion Mr. 
Callioun congratulated me on hearing liim "in one of his 
grandest moods." His style of speaking was solemn and 
impressive. ]>ut it did not stir up the blood and excite 
the feelings lilvc speeches I have heard from others of less 
fame. Mr. Calhoun's manner of speaking was much 
more ardent, earnest and imjx'tuous. 

When introduced to IMr. Webster, he said that he had 
heard of me before. I replied that I had once had the 
pleasure of a correspondence with him. He did not 
seem to recall it, and I sjiid nothing more on the subject. 
During our nullification excitement, he sent me a copy of 
his speech, in reply to Mr. Calhoun, on the rights of the 
States, and the powers of the General Government. 
Thereupon I Avrote hipi a lettei-, and in return he wrote 
me at some lengtli on the condition of the country. 
This letter I saw published in an edition of his works 
after his death. But I hope the reader Avill not attribute 
to me a letter ^vritten by a Colonel Perry, of Camden, 
S. C, importuning Mr. Webster for an office. 

Several years after this I met Mr. Webster in Co- 
lumbia, S. C., and was in his company for several days. 
The night he arrived there, and became the guest of 
Colonel William C. Preston, I was invited, Avith several 
others, to spend tlie evening with him. Mrs. Webster 
^vas with liim, who seemed liivc Saul, head and shoulders 
taller than any other lady in the room. In my reminis- 
cences of Colcmel Preston I have mentioned the address 
of INIr. AW^bster to the students of the college the evening 
of liis arrival, and his sj^eech the next day, which were 
very brief, and disa])])ointed pn])lic expectation greatly, 
as he was worn out by tlie entertainments given ]n'm in 
( 'liarleston tlie Aveek before. I thouglit, too, that Mr. 
\\\4)ster appeared like a gi'eat seventy-four gnu ship, 
which re(|uire(l deeper watei', larger space, and stronger 



Daniel Webster. 65 

wind to be set iu motion. He required a great occasion 
to bring forth his great powers. He appeared sullen and 
dull, as I have said, at the great State dinner given him 
by Governor Johnson. Several efforts were made to 
call him out, but he would neither speak nor converse. 
The next day, however, at a private dinner given him 
by Dr. Gibbs, where there Avere fifteen or twenty gentle- 
men invited to meet him, he seemed to rouse up and 
throw off his lethargy. He talked magnificently, spoke 
of his Congressional life, and his visit to England. He 
told anecdotes of John Randolph, and others in Congress. 
Those of Randolph were not much to his credit. Web- 
ster was prejudiced against him, and there had been an 
old feud between them. I think on some occasion 
Randolph challenged him, which he declined to accept. 
Ever afterwards Randolph affected to have great con- 
tempt for him. On one occasion, while their relations 
were friendly, Webster called Randolph's attention to a 
fact which he had found recorded in the journals of Con- 
gress, and Avhich he was going to use in a speech. In 
the course of the debate Randolph got the floor first, and 
appropriated the fact, sent for the book, and called the 
attention of members to it, without any allusion to his 
having derived the information from Webster. He spoke 
of Randolph in England, and his eccentricities there. 
Webster visited England shortly after Randolph, and 
heard many odd tilings of him. 

Whilst Mr. Webster was in Columbia he visited the 
})lantati()ns of Colonel Wade Hampton, and others, who 
had their negroes all dressed clean and prepared to re- 
ceive him in the cotton fields where they were at work. 
He conversed with them about their tasks, visited their 
cabins, and examined into their mode of living and treat- 
ment. I saw him iu the evening, after his return, and 
he spoke most favorably of the institution of slavery. 
He said at Dr. Gibbs's table, in the presence of the whole 
party dining there, that ^^ no change could be made which 
would benefit the slave." These were his very words. 



66 Daniel Webster. 

and I have no donbt lie was sincere at the time in ex- 
pressing tlieni. The aboHtion of slavery since has proved 
the trnth of his remark. The Southern slaves, with few 
exceptions, have not been benefited by freedom. This is 
shown by the great mortality amongst them everywhere, 
since they were set free, and by the further fact that 
scarcely any of them have acquired any property or live 
as well as they did in slavery. Their idleness and im- 
providence will ever keep them in Avant and pauperism. 

General Thompson tells a good joke of Webster's pro- 
fessing sympathy with the South. He said it was very 
strange that the Southern people were prejudiced against 
him for he was very much of a Southern man in his 
habits, taste and character. He was fond of society and 
his friends, loved good dinners and good wines, cared 
verv little for money, always spent it freely and was 
generally in debt. Whilst Webster was a member of 
General Harrison's cal)inet, it was remarked by General 
Thompson, at a dinner party given by Judge Earle, that 
Webster viewed some question ^vhich I do not now re- 
member, as a patriot. Mr. Poinsett replied that that 
was a view which Mr. Webster never took of any ques- 
tion. He viewed every thing as an advocate and never 
as a patriot. On the subject of tlie tariff he changed 
with the changed interest of Massachusetts. Whilst he 
represented the commercial interest of Boston in the 
House of Representatives, he was a free trade man, and 
made one of the ablest arguments against the tariff ever 
delivered in that body. When he became a member of 
the United States Senate and was representing the manu- 
facturing interests of Massachusetts, he made equally as 
powerful an argument in favor of the tariff and protec- 
tive system. 

In appearance, Mr. Webster was a very remarkable 
man. His head was very large and his face full. His 
eyes were the largest I ever saw^ in any human head. 
His complexion was dark, and liis hair jet black. He 
Avas a stout man, with a massive figure, above the ordi- 



Daniel Webster. 67 

nary height. He used to say that his brother, who died 
young, and fell dead in court, ^vas the finest figure of a 
man he had ever seen. Judge Martin, of South Caro- 
lina, in describing Webster's personal appearance to me 
Avhilst he was a member of Congress, said he always re- 
minded him of one of the French revolutionists. It is a 
great mistake to suppose Webster had a bad heart. 
Colonel Preston's remark that he was wanting in heart, was 
nearer the truth. His moral qualities, I have thought, 
were very much those of Lord Bacon. It is very strange 
that a man of great intellectual endowments and high 
cultivation should ever be a bad man or a mean man. 
Such a man ought to have wisdom and sagacity enough 
to know that it was better for him to be honorable and 
good in all his actions through life. 



ROBERT Y. HAYNE. 

I first saw Governor Hayne in the fall of 1825. He 
and his colleague, John Gailliard, then President pro 
tern, of the Senate of the United States, arrived in Green- 
ville the same evening. General Hayne stopped at Crit- 
tenden's hotel, Adhere I Avas boarding as a law student. 
He remained with us two or three days and I was 
charmed with him. His cheerful cordial manners and 
his great conversational powers won my heart completely. 
His appearance at that time was very youthful. As he 
grew older, I thouglit he improved in looks very much. 
He grew stout and had a more manly appearance. He 
had then been several years in tlie United States Senate ; 
had previously filled the office of Speaker of the House 
of Representatives in South Carolina, and that of Attor- 
ney-General of the State. 

Governor Hayne was full of anecdotes about the mem- 
l^ers of Congress, and the passing scenes at Washington. 
He said that whilst Senator Macon, of North Carolina, 
Avas Speaker of the House of Representatives in Congress, 
there was a new member from Georgia who had prepared 
a speech on tlie question before the House, but the vote 
was taken suddenly, and he did not have the oppoi'tunity 
of delivering it. He Avent to the Speaker and expressed 
his regret; told him that it Avas expected by his constitu- 
ency he AA^ould make a speech on the question, and that 
his neglect to do so, Avould insure his defeat in the com- 
ing election. "NcA^er mind," said Macon, "sometime 
Avhen the House is at leisure, I Avill giA^e you the floor, 
and you can make your speech." ScA^eral days after- 
wards, he beckoned the member from Georgia, and in- 





ROBT. Y. HAYNE. 



Robert Y. Hayne. 69 

quired If he was ready to make his speech. "Yes, sir;" 
said the member, " I have got the manuscript in my 
pocket." " Very well/' replied the Speaker, " the House 
is now at leisure, and I will give you the floor." The 
speech was made to the astonishment of every one, and 
published in due time. On another occasion, whilst 
Macon was presiding over the deliberations of the House, 
a member commenced speaking against time ; told about 
the creation of the w^orld ; the ejection of our first parents 
from the Garden of Eden ; the building of the tower of 
Babel ; the captivity of the children of Israel, their march- 
ing through the Red Sea, etc., etc. He continued to 
speak in this style for some length of time, without 
alluding to the question before the House. At length 
he was called to order, but the Speaker ruled that he was 
not then out of order, for he might yet apply all he had 
said to the question under discussion. " If," said he, "the 
member concludes his argument without making any ap- 
plication of his facts, I Avill then pronounce him out of 
order." " Old Father Macon," said General Hayne, " as 
he was usually called by the Senators, always wore home- 
spun in the Senate till the passage of the tariff for pro- 
tection of northern manufactures. Immediately afler 
that he dressed himself in a superfine suit of English 
cloth. It was noticed, and some one asked the reason. 
" I preferred wearing homespun and patronizing domestic 
industry," said Mr. Macon, "till these northern gentle- 
men thought proper to try to force me to do so. I am 
now determined to show them that they cannot." 

I was a member of the State Convention in 1832, over 
which Governor Hayne presided, at its second session, 
having been elected Governor of the State. He succeeded 
Governor Hamilton as President of the Convention, and 
was imbued with all the spirit and zeal of nullification. 
He told me that when General Scott arrived in Charleston 
to take command of the United States forces stationed 
there during the nullification excitement, that he called 
on him as the Governor of the State, and invited him to 



70 Robert Y. Hayne. 

dine with him. He told the General he woidd have most 
of the leading nullifiers of the city to meet him at dinner. 
This invitation the General declined, on the gronnd that 
he did not wish to mingle at all wdth parties in Sonth 
Carolina ; that he had come there as an officer of the 
army and was determined to eschew all politics. Gov. 
Hayne fonnd that in a few days aftersvards General 
Scott had been dining with Judge Huger and all the lead- 
ing Union men of the city. "After that/^ said Governor 
Hayne, " I had no intercourse with him." 

Governor Hayne once told me that he was going to 
write the history of nullification, and had collected all the 
documents necessary for that purpose. It is to be re- 
gretted that he did not carry out his purpose. It ^YSiS the 
first " lost cause " of the South. In the great debate between 
him and Webster, in the Senate, on the doctrine of nulli- 
fication, Webster gave the Governor's new States' rights 
doctrine a terrible trouncing. Governor Middleton told 
me he was in England on his return from Russia, when 
this debate reached there. He heard several of the foreign 
ministers, and many leading statesmen of Great Britain 
speak of Webster's speech in reply to Hayne as the hap- 
piest effort of parliamentary debate that they had ever 
read. 

Governor Hayne was a pleasant speaker, warm, ani- 
mated and eloquent. He A^'as not a man of great learn- 
ing. His education had been completed at the Charleston 
College. I have heard General Thompson say that 
" Hayne was the prince of common sense." It is true 
that his mind was practical, and he was laborious in all 
his investigations. He always prepared himself well be- 
fore he made a speech. I have heard Chief Justice Dunkin 
say that he and Hayne were members of a debating club 
whilst reading law, and that he always found Hayne ^^'ell 
prepared on his side of the question. At the bar he suc- 
ceeded to the heavy practice of Judge Cheves, immediately 
afler his admission, and managed it with great ability. 
His career in political life was rapid and brilliant. Few 



Robert Y. PIayne. 71 

public men iu South Carolina have risen so rapidly, and 
no one ever enjoyed at his death a purer reputation. He 
was a warm partisan during our political excitement in 
1832, and yet he commanded the entire respect and 
esteem of his political opponents. No one doubted Hayne's 
sincerity, or patriotism, or honor. But his ardor and en- 
thusiasm often overcame his great good sense, and led him 
astray. His proclamation in reply to President Jackson 
was a most remarkable document, and really evinced an 
intellect dethroned by passion. He had been a great friend 
of General Jackson's. He told me that he sent an agent 
north whilst Governor, to purchase arms. This agent 
was playfully told by the South Carolina delegation, that 
if he let his mission be known, Jackson would order his 
arrest. This alarmed him so much that he not only kept 
his mission a secret, but returned to Charleston without 
making the purchase. Mr. Holmes was afterwards sent 
on in his stead, and he made the purchase of arms wanted. 
There may have been more truth in this playful remark 
than Governor Hayne supposed. It is stated in Parton's 
" lAfe of Jackson," that he declared, not three weeks be- 
fore his death, that it was his purpose to have hung Cal- 
houn on a gallows as high as Haman's, if there had been 
one drop of blood spilt in Charleston in the cause of 
nullification. 

In 1838, I had a long conversation with Governor 
Hayne on the subject of the annexation of Texas. He 
said this was contemplated by the speculators in lands, 
when Texas was first settled by emigrants from the 
United States. A proposition was made to him by mem- 
bers of Congress, to engage in the purchase of lands in 
Texas Avith a view to annexation. He said it was idle to 
think of annexing every country to which our citizens 
might emigrate. They were of such an adventurous 
character that they always would go beyond the territo- 
rial limits of their country, no matter how far those limits 
miffht be extended. 



72 Robert Y. Hayne. 

Governor Hayne and his family were at my honse on 
their way to Asheville, a week or ten days before his 
death. He appeared to be in perfect heakh. He was 
then President of the Charleston and Cincinnati Railroad 
Company, and was greatly distnrbed at the financial con- 
dition of the company. He was going to Asheville to 
meet the stockholders, and there died of typhoid fever. 
Jndge Cheves retnrned to Greenville with Mrs. Hayne 
and her two sons. The Judge said to me then that he 
was as dear and devoted a friend as Governor Hayne had 
on earth. In the fall, after Governor Hayne's death, I 
went to call on Mrs. Hayne in Columbia, and was shocked 
at her altered appearance. Grief and distress at the loss 
of her noble husband had so changed her features and 
general appearance that I scarcely recognized her. She 
said to me she did not care to live except to watch over 
the education of her sons. 

In early life Governor Hayne observed to his sister, 
"my mother-in-law,'^ that his friends thought him tal- 
ented, but that this was a great mistake. He said he had 
application and perseverance, and if he succeeded in life 
his success would be owing to these qualities. I remarked 
to his sister, when she told me this, that application and 
perseverance might be termed the most successful talents 
a man could possess. 

Governor Hayne was twice married. His first Avife 
was the daughter of Governor Charles Pinckney, and his 
second wife the daughter Colonel William Alston. His 
second wife survived him for many years, a noble relict 
of a noble husband. Governor Hayne died in the prime 
of life, when the future was all glorious before him. He 
had resigned his seat in the Senate, where he was loved 
and admired by his compeers, and accepted the Governor- 
ship of South Carolina, in order to let Mr. Calhoun, who 
was then Vice-President, take his place in the Senate. 
Governor Hayne's popularity was at that time so great 
that he had even been spoken of as a candidate for the 
Presidency. 



Egbert Y. Hayne. 78 

Governor Hayne was a beautiful writer, as Avell as a 
great and eloquent debater. His article in the '' Southern 
Quarterly," on the execution of his kinsman, Colonel 
Isaac Hayne, during the Revolutionary war, was a most 
admirable article. The address of the State Convention, 
in 1832, written by him, was a State paper of great ability 
and eloquence. His untimely death was deeply mourned 
and lamented. 



GEORGE Mcduffie. 

I once heard Governor Orr tell Mrs. Wade Hampton, 
the danghter of General McDuffie, that Colonel Benton 
said to him many years ago that " McDntiie, as an orator, 
was equal to Demosthenes in his prime." This was, cer- 
tainly, a very high comj^liment, coming from such a 
source. It may be esteemed extravagant, and perhaps is 
so. But there is no one who ever heard General McDuffie 
on any great occasion, that will not admit his great and 
transcendent powers as an orator. He could stir up the 
human heart and excite the feelings and passions as few 
public speakers have been able to do in ancient or modern 
times. It is said that the best judges of eloquence are the 
masses, the common people, and there is great truth in the 
remark. From Demosthenes to the present da}', there 
has never lived a great orator whose reputation was not 
the reward of the masses in popular assemblies. In 
moving the popular heart, on great occasions, or on great 
questions of public policy, no one was more successful 
than George McDuffie. 

He was said to have been born in Georgia, but his 
parents moved from Lancaster District, South Carolina, 
the birthplace of General Andrew Jackson, and there are 
some doubts as to where he Avas born. I have heard 
Mrs. Robert Cunningham say that she went to school 
with George McDuffie near her father's residence in 
Georgia, above Augusta. Her father was Colonel Bird, 
formerly of Virginia. Mrs. Cunningham said McDuffie's 
name was then pronounced McAfee by his associates. 
She said his parents were poor and lived near her father's. 
At school George would climb trees and get birds' nests 



George McDuffie. 75 

for her. He was a stout boy, whilst she was a very small 
gh4. Mrs. Yancey, the sister of Mrs. Cuiuiinghani, and 
the mother of William L. Yancey, of Alabama, once said 
to me that she had recently met General McDuffie, in 
Hamburg, S. C., and he inquired of her if she had lately 
been at her father's old residence, and expressed a wish 
to visit the neighborhood once more. 

Not many years before General McDuffie's death, Mr. 
Armistead Burt told me that McDuffie requested him to 
go with him to the place where he was born and brought 
up. Mr. Burt went with him, and said that after some 
difficulty they found the vestige or debris of an old chim- 
ney, where the house had been. It Avas in a most 
secluded, lt)nely place. There was a tree standing near 
by, and after looking at it for some time, he saw the tears 
rolling down McDuffie's cheeks. Pointing to the tree, 
he remarked : '' That is the tree under which I used to 
play knucks." 

General McDuffie entered the store of James Calhoun, 
in Augusta, when he was a stout boy. Mr. Calhoun was 
the brother of John C. Calhoun, and he filled in business 
and had to close his store. Whilst McDuffie was clerk- 
ing for Mr. Calhoun, he evinced a great disposition to 
read, and his spare time was always spent with his books. 
This attracted Mr. Calhoun's notice, and when his brother, 
William Calhoun, came down to Augusta, after his fail- 
ure, he mentioned the circumstance to him. Mr. William 
Calhoun lived near the Rev. Mr. Waddle's famous school 
at Willington, S. C. He proposed to take McDuffie and 
board him whilst he was going to the academy. In 
1828, I was shown, by Mr. William Calhoun, an old 
pine box, in which McDuffie brought his clothes when 
he came there to go to school. This box had a lid fast- 
ened with leather hinges, and a leather strap in front 
fastened over a nail. Telling my friend Colonel Richard 
Yeadou, about having seen this box, he said it ought to 
be procured and deposited in the Charleston Museinn. 
Mr. Calhoun did not knoAv McDuffie's asfe when he first 



76 George McDuffie. 

came to his house. I heard INIr. Pettigru say that after 
he graduated in the South CaroHna College, he went to 
Augusta, and Judge Longstreet, then a very young man, 
gave him a letter of introduetiou to his friend McDuffie, 
who was at that time in Calhoun's store. Mr. Petigru 
said ^McDuffte seemed then to be about his own age. He 
remembered that he and McDuffie took a stroll over the 
town of Augusta together. 

McDuffie's progress in the languages, at Willington, 
was very remarkable^ and I think Mr. Calhoun said he 
prepared himself for the Junior class in the South Caro- 
lina College in the course of twelve months. During his 
college vacation he became a private tutor in Mr. Flood's 
family, as I have been informed. In this way he de- 
frayed the expenses of his second year in college. For 
Mr. Calhoun's kindness, General McDuffie afterwards 
insisted on defraying the expenses of educating Mr. Cal- 
houn's youngest daughter, now Mrs. Burt, in the Female 
Seminary, at Columbia. He graduated with the first 
honors of his class. 

General Thompson and others have told me of stopping 
at Mrs. Vance's in Georgia, who was the sister of Gover- 
nor McDuffie, and older than himself. She was fond of talk- 
ing of George, and said when a boy he was the kindest and 
best tempered fellow she ever knew, and was surprised to 
learn that he had had several quarrels in Congress, and a 
fight or two with Colonel Cumming. There was a 
brother of Governor McDuffie's who lived in Georgia, 
and I have heard Major Samuel To wnes speak of stopping 
at his house and purchasing fodder for his horses, as he 
was passing through the Sttite. 

Soon after McDuffie was admitted to the bar he was 
elected a member of the Legislature from Edgefield Dis- 
trict. He soon acquired in that body a very high repu- 
tation as a public speaker. Judge Huger told me that he 
was a member of the Legislature the same session. One 
night he returned to his mess, and saw^ that Colonel I^ewis 
Keating Simt)ns Avas very moody and abstracted. He in- 



George McDuffie. 77 

quired what was the matter. In reply, Colonel Simons 
asked him if he knew a young member of the house whose 
name was McDuffie? ^^Yes," said the Judge, "he is 
quite a promising member of the bar at Edgefield. What 
about him?" "I never heard such eloquence flow from 
the lips of mortal man/' said Colonel Simons, " as I heard 
from his, this evening, before the judiciary committee, on 
giving the election of electors of President and Vice- 
President to the people." After indulging in a good deal 
of extravagant eulogium on the yonng member from 
Edgefield, Judge Hnger said to him, " Well, Simons, you 
must admit that he is an ugly fellow." "Ugly!" ex- 
claimed Simons, " if you could have seen him this even- 
ing Avhilst speaking, with his features animated and his 
face lighted up by the inspiration of eloquence, you w^onld 
have thought him as beautiful as an angel." In replying 
to some opposition to the South Carolina College, Judge 
Huger said to the House, that if the college had never 
done anything more than educate McDuffie, it would be 
ample compensation to the State for all her expenditures 
on the institution. This compliment was, afterwards, 
frequently repeated and referred to in South Carolina. 

In a few years General McDuffie was elected to Con- 
gress, and there he soon acquired a national reputation. 
For several years he stood prominent in that body as [i 
debater and orator. He was then elected Governor of 
South Carolina, and after^^'ards United States Senator. 
He entered the Senate after his health was impaired and 
his mind greatly enfeebled. In that body he was never 
able to do justice to his reputation. At the bar he had 
no rival and stood alone. Ho was, indeed, a great orator 
and a great man. His style of speaking was Demosthe- 
nian, and for invective and denunciation he was the equal 
of the great Athenian. In politics, however, he was too 
much under the influence of his feelings and passions to 
be relied on. His honesty and sincerity w^ere never 
doubted. He was kind and sim])le in his nature, con- 
fiding to a fault, and easily imposed upon by otliers. 



78 George McDuffie. 

Tlirougliout liis public life he was very much under 
the influence of Mr. Calhoun^ and too o^ten permitted 
him to control his public course. In early life he was a 
strong advocate of Federal powers, and thought no man 
equal to Alexander Hamilton, save Washington alone. 
His pamphlet, "One of the People/' a strong consolida- 
tion document, was a terrible stumbling-block in his way 
when he took the other side in politics and became the 
advocate of nullification. The latter part of his life Avas 
devoted to agriculture and making money. It was said 
he became avaricious. This Judge Huger denied to me 
in strong terms. He said that he and McDuflie kept 
house together whilst they were in the Senate, and 
although their expenses were heavy, he never saw the 
slightest wish on the part of McDuffie to curtail them. 
He said McDuffie did not care to spend money in order 
to make a display, for he scorned all such vanity, but 
Avhen necessary he Avas as willing to spend his money as 
any one. Judge Huger said that he seemed to regard 
money as little as any one he e\^er kneAV. Colonel Wood- 
AA^ard, Avho messed Avith him scA^eral sessions, spoke of his 
manners and habits as unrefined, but I heard nothing of 
this from Judge Huger. 

After General McDuffie's retiu-n from Europe, he Avas 
speaking to me of the dilference in the appearance of the 
United States and England and France. He said Ave had 
no permanent monuments of national greatness in America, 
and that if the besom of destruction Avere to SAveep OA^er 
the land, there could not be found a century afterAvards a 
single vestige of our greatness or civilization ! In debate 
General McDuffie Avas often rude, overbearing and in- 
sulting. This invoH'ed him in many difficulties. His 
duels Avith Colonel William Gumming Avere OAving to his 
vituperative publications, and his difficulties in Congress 
originated in his terrific replies in debate. 

Before his death his mind became a melancholy Avreck. 
His noble intellect Avas gone ! His physical strength par- 
alyzed. In traveling Avith him from Washington to the 



George McDufeie. 79 

Virginia Springs, in tlie latter part of liis life, we had to 
assist him in walking from the coach to the hotel. He 
was opposed to the annexation of Oregon to the United 
States, and thonght the conntry would be valueless. I 
remember his differing with Mr. Calhoun on this subject 
as we were traveling over the mountains. There was no 
pretension about Mr. McDuflfie in anything. He Avas 
very plain in his appearance and dress, and rustic in his 
manners. I remember hearing Mrs. William Calhoun 
laughing about some one coming there and mistaking 
McDufde for their overseer. Whilst at the bar in early 
life he was sometimes seen with a hole in the elbow of 
his coat. He left a large fortune at his death. In 
planting he was very successful and prosperous. 

Whilst Governor of the State, he denounced in very 
strong terms the Eepublic of Texas, and expressed but 
little sympathy for those who had voluntarily abandoned 
their homes and country. For this "cold blooded mes- 
sage," as it was termed by ( olonel Benton, McDuffie was 
severely rebuked in the Senate of the United States. He 
did not marry until he had become distinguished in the 
councils of the nation. His wife, Miss Singleton, sur- 
vived her marriage only tAvo years, leaving an only child. 
The Governor never married again. 



WILLIAM SMITH. 

I was prejudiced in early life against Judge Smith, and 
most earnestly wished his defeat when Judge Huger op- 
posed him for the United States Senate. This was before 
I was admitted to the bar. I was introduced to Judge 
Smith in the House of Representatives of this State, 
Avhilst the contest was going on bet^veen him and Gov- 
ernor Miller for the Senate. I was at that time editing 
the Greenville Mountaineer, a Union paper, and had 
espoused the cause of Judge Smith on account of his 
opposition to nullification. His hostility to Mr. Calhoun 
and his States' rights doctrines, which had formerly pre- 
judiced me against him, were now forgiven and joined in 
by myself. Mr. Calhoun had jumped over Judge Smith 
in the States' rights school, and went far beyond what 
the judge had dreamed of in his opposition to national 
powers. 

Judge Smith was a very plain, unpretending man in 
his appearatice and manners. He was very bitter and 
vindictive in his feelings. I never knew a man of talent 
and distinction more so. He hated Calhoun ^vith an in- 
tensity and cordiality seldom felt by any public man" 
towards his opponent. In speaking to Judge Huger, 
one day, of Mr. Calhoun, Judge Smith said, '' Do you 
know, sir, that Calhoun, on my return to the Senate of 
the United States, treated me with so much kindness and 
consideration that I could not hate him as I wished to 
do." I mentioned this singular expression to Judge 
Earle, and he remarked that he had no doubt Smith 
hated Calhoun the more for not being able to hate him ! 
In other words, not paradoxical, he hated Calhoun the 



William Smith. 81 

more on accoimt of his kindness and cordiality, which 
deprived him of one canse for continning his hatred. 

Judge Smith said to Governor Taylor, in my presence, 
" You know, sir, that Calhoun sold the State twice to 
advance his claims in the Presidency, once on the tariff, 
and again on internal improvements.^' Judge Smith 
Avas the wisest and most consistent statesman South Caro- 
lina ever produced in my day and time. He early per- 
ceived the dangerous tendency of increasing the powers 
of the Federal Government by a great national bank, a 
magnificent system of internal improvements,'' and a 
tariff for the exclusive protection of Northern manufac- 
turers. He saw, too, the sectional bearing of these meas- 
ures would be to concentrate power and wealth at the 
North, and w^eaken and impoverish the South. He 
broke ground against these measures at once, which were 
advocated by Mr. Calhoun and his friends, in South 
Carolina ; and was turned out of the United States Senate 
in consequence of his opposition to Mr. Calhoun and his 
policy. In a few years the evil consequences of this 
great American system on the prosperity of the Southern 
States were sorely felt in South Carolina, and Judge 
Smith was again restored to the United States Senate by 
the Legislature. Then Mr. Calhoun and his party be- 
gan their scheme of nullification to break down and 
nullify the tariff laws. Judge Smith immediately saAV 
the dangerous and destructive consequences of this doc- 
trine to all Federal powers, and opposed it like a wise 
statesman and patriot, and was again turned out of the 
Senate. His course was, all the time, a middle one, the 
course of Avisdom and patriotism. He was then elected 
to the State Senate from York District, where he con- 
tinued his opposition to nullification and his exertions in 
defence of the Union. But York District finally gave in 
her adhesion to nullification, and he moved to Alabama. 
Avhere he was elected to the I^egislature, and afterwards 
appointed by General fJaekson to a seat on the bench of 



82 William Smith. 

the Sin)reine Court of the United States. This high and 
most honorable position the judge dechned. 

In the Senate of the United States Judge Smith always 
had great consideration for his wisdom, integrity and 
learning. South Carolina may well be proud of him as 
a statesman and patriot. 

Chancellor Job Johnston told me once that Judge 
Smith, in early life, had a falling out wdth one of his 
brothers, and they did not speak to each other. After 
his election to the bench he went to hold court in one of 
the lower districts, and found this brother on the jury, 
and by the recommendation of the clerk he was appointed 
foreman, but there was no recognition of kindred or 
acquaintance between them. The whole court passed 
over ^\athout their speaking to each other, except officially. 
Chancellor Johnston was a great friend of Judge Smith, 
and took an active part for him in his election to the 
Senate when opposed by Judge Huger. The chancellor 
told me another incident connected with Judge Smith, 
which was very remarkable. In early life, conversing 
with the judge about Andrew Jackson, he said: "I 
knew General Jackson ^vell as a boy and a man, and I 
know him to be a hollow-hearted scoundrel !'' Many 
years afterwards, in the canvass between Judge Smith 
and Judge Huger for the Senate, a member of the Legis- 
lature said to the chancellor that he would vote for Judge 
Smith, ])rovided he was in favor of the election of Gen- 
eral Jackson to the Presidency. This Chancellor John- 
ston communicated to Judge Smith, and remembering 
what the judge had said in former years, he said to him, 
"You need not answer the question if it Avill prejudice 
you.'' The judge replied, " Tell your Senator I would 
sooner see General Jackson President than any man in 
America." 

Judge Withers, who Avas the protege of Judge Smith, 
told me not long before his death, that he had heard the 
cause of Judge Smith's bitter enmity towards Mr. Cal- 
houn was owing to Mr. Calhoun's preventing President 



William Smith. 83 

Monroe from appointing him to a foreign mission. Mr. 
Calhoun was at that time a member of Monroe's cabinet, 
and understood the President was going to nominate 
Judge Smith as Minister to Russia. He interposed and 
procured the appointment of Governor Middleton, of 
South Carohna. Judge Withers said, that whilst riding 
with Judge Smith, one day, he alluded to the fact, and 
an evasive answer was given him. 

Judge Smith always kept his letters, and in talking to 
me, in the days of nullification, relative to General 
Thompson, he said : " I have a rod in soak for him, a 
letter which he wrote me." What this letter contained 
he did not inform me. On my introduction to Judge 
Smith, he spoke of his disappointment in ascertaining 
that the Pendleton delegation would vote against him. 
His son-in-law. Colonel John Taylor, lived at Pendleton 
till his removal to Alabama. His friend. General Earle, 
the brother-in-law of Colonel Taylor, was still living 
there, and then Adjutant General of the State. He 
thought his influence would have been for him in the 
election. 

Judge Smith and myself boarded at the same hotel 
whilst he was a member of the State Senate, and I saw a 
great deal of him. He was one of the sternest and firm- 
est men I ever knew. He was not a man like Judge 
Huger, of warm friendship, but he surpassed the judge a 
long way in the bitterness of his enmities. He was said 
to have been a selfish man. I do not know the truth of 
this. Chancellor Thompson, who practiced with him at 
the bar, used to say he was ill-natured and captious to his 
associates. This is very likely true. He was rude in 
conversation, as ^vell as bitter and vindictive. Just before 
leaving the State, he was knocked down by a gentleman 
for some oifence given in conversation. 

Whilst a member of the Alabama Legislature, a dis- 
cussion sprung up as to the propriety of building a peni- 
tentiary. Judge Smith had just sent his cotton crop to 
Mobile and was defrauded by some of the factors there. 



84 Wjlliam Smith. 

He stated to the House of wliicli lie avus a ineinber, that 
if the Legislature would build a wall arouud the city of 
JNIobile, they would have a peniteutiary at ouce filled 
with rogues ! 

Just as I was coucluding this brief aud imperfect 
sketch of Judge Smith, news was brought to me of the 
capture of Fort Sumter ! Fraterual blood has been shed 
in civil strife, and the power and glory of this great 
American Republic have, I fear, departed forever ! No 
human Avisdom can foretell the result. But if the wise 
and patriotic statesmanship of Judge Smith had guided 
the councils of the nation and the States, this mournful 
condition of our country Avould never have occurred. 



WILLIAM HARPER. 

Chancellor Harper was a practicing lawyer in Columbia 
at the time of my admission to the bar, and was one of 
the committee appointed to examine the applicants for 
admission. He had been Chancellor of the State of Mis- 
souri previous to that time, and had a very high reputa- 
tion as a lawyer. Chancellor Harper was born in one of 
the West India Islands, and came with his father to South 
Carolina whilst a boy. His father was a Methodist 
preacher and an Abolitionist. His distinguished son be- 
came the greatest pro-slavery man in the Southern States. 
He graduated in the South Carolina College shortly after 
the organization of that institution, and after teaching 
school for a short time, commenced tlie study of law. He 
married Miss Coulter, and moved to Missouri, where he 
became in a very short time, the Chancellor of that young 
and prosperous State. He returned to South Carolina 
after a few years, and commenced the practice of law in 
Columbia, in partnership, I think, ^vith his brother-in- 
law. Colonel William C. Preston. On the death of John 
Gailliard during the recess of our Legislature, Governor 
Manning appointed Chancellor Harper to fill his seat in 
the Senate of the United States till an election was made 
by the Legislature. I heard Judge Berrian say that Har- 
per took a very high stand in the Senate of the United 
States during the very short time he served in that body. 
His speech on the Judiciary was highly complimented as 
a very able and learned argument. He refused to be a 
candidate when the election took place, and the contest 
Avas between Judge Smith and Judge Huger. The former 
who had been turned out of the Senate by Gen. Hayne, 



86 William Harper. 

was elected. Chancellor Harper then moved to Charles- 
ton and formed a partnership in the practice of law with 
Isaac Holmes, Esq. He was immediately elected a mem- 
ber of the Legislature from the city of Charleston, and 
became Speaker of the House of Representatives. It was 
doubted at the time, whether he had, with all his great 
learning and talents, the proper qualifications for a 
Speaker. In reply. General Thompson said that Harper 
could fill any position well, and he could make a good 
dancing master. Whilst a member of the Legislature, 
he was elected one of the Chancellors of the State in the 
place of Chancellor Thompson who resigned. He Avas 
then elected to the Appeal Bench with Judge O'Neall 
and Judge David Johnson as his associates. He continued 
on the Appeal Bench till the court of three was abolished, 
and he was then transferred again to the Chancery Bench, 
where he continued until his death. 

Chancellor Harper's memory was wonderful and almost 
beyond belief. I heard Judge Wardlaw say that Chan- 
cellor Harper told him, that he read one morning before 
breakfiist, Campbell's " Pleasures of Hope," soon after the 
poem was published — hod never read it since, and could 
then repeat the whole of it from memory. Some one 
present asked Judge Wardlaw if he believed it. The 
Judge replied, " Yes, I believe anything that Harper tells 
me as a fact within his own knowledge." Governor 
David Johnson told me that one morning, at the break- 
fast table in Stewart's hotel in Charleston, some one read 
a half column of ^' cross reading," having neither sense 
or connection, which it w^as stated that a man had re- 
peated after hearing it read once. As they were going to 
the court room. Harper said to him, I can repeat every 
word of that " cross reading," and did so. With such a 
memory, it is no wonder that Chancellor Harper was a 
great laA^yer. A very common man with such powers 
of memory, could easily make himself learned in any and 
all sciences. But Chancellor Harper's mind was almost 
('(pial to his memory. He was a great logician, but an 



William Harper. 87 

unpleasant speaker, and as to eloquence, lie had none. In 
the Legislature he always seemed to hesitate whilst speak- 
ing, and very often repeated a sentence just uttered. His 
speeches, when published, were always most admirable 
arguments. He was a beautiftil writer and a fine belles- 
lettres scholar. In his younger days he wrote poetry, 
which, it is said, was very fine. No one w^ould ever have 
supposed him to be a poet from his appearance, conversa- 
tion and speeches. His person was tall, slender and un- 
graceftil. He was a great novel reader, and devoured all 
the literary trash of the day. 

I was present in Columbia when Chancellor Harper 
united himself to the Episcopal Church, and saw him go 
up and kneel at the altar with a dozen or two of young 
ladies, to be confirmed by the bishop. I thought it a 
very interesting sight. There, perhaps, never was a more 
pure minded gentleman than Chancellor Harper, or one 
who had less disguise about him. He had an infirmity 
which many great and good men have had, but even this, 
he never thought of trying to conceal. It would seem 
that intemperance, to some men, is unavoidable and can- 
not be resisted. I have understood that, on one occa- 
sion. Colonel William C. Preston, the intimate friend and 
brother-in-law of Chancellor Harper, undertook to re- 
monstrate with him on this unfortunate habit. He 
silenced the Colonel at once by saying : " Do you think, 
Preston, that anything you can say could influence me in 
this matter, when the love of my wife and children 
cannot ? " 

Chancellor Harper once told me, that in going from 
New Orleans to Mobile with his wife and daughter, they 
had with them a favorite maid servant who was a bright 
mulatto. The captain of the vessel came to him and 
asked if that was his servant aboard, and said she would 
be forfeited on their landing in Mobile on account of some 
omission at the Custom House. The Chancellor then 
said he would pay him to return to New Orleans with his 
boat, and have the omission corrected. The captain re- 



88 William Harper. 

plied that the servant would be liable to seizure if they 
returned. What was to be done ? The captain suggested 
that he might evade the public officer by dressing up the 
maid and putting a veil over her face. The idea w^as 
adopted, and the maid servant was rigged out in some of 
the daughter's finest dresses, etc. On the landing of the 
boat, the Chancellor gave his arm to the maid closely 
veiled, and permitted Mrs. Harper and the daughter to 
follow behind. They Avent to the hotel, and after the 
ladies retired to their rooms, the maid assumed her own 
dress. I repeated this story to one of our Judges, who 
said he Avould venture that it Avas the only piece of de- 
ception that Harper ever practiced in his life. 

In the latter part of his life. Chancellor Harper got 
permission of the Legislature to visit Europe, and he was 
absent from the State for seven or eight months. He was 
greatly shocked at the manners and customs of the citi- 
zens of Paris. His modesty and bashfulness were so much 
outraged on several occasions, that he said, "he could 
hardly regard them as folks." Although the strongest 
of pro-slavery men, Chancellor Harper was in favor of 
educating slaves as the Romans did. He saiti it would 
make them a better peo^^le and better slaves. I remem- 
ber he delivered an address on the subject of slavery, be- 
fore some convention in Columbia, which was two or 
three hours long. Governor Hamilton, who was very 
much exhausted listening so long, pronounced it "a very 
slavish address." 

In our nullification contest. Chancellor Harper was re- 
garded next to Calhoun in expounding this new political 
doctrine. I have understood that Mr. Calhoun said, 
'^ Hai'per comprehended the whole subject better than any 
one he had ever met with." The human mind is a great 
mystery. In all ages and countries, some of the greatest, 
wisest and best men, have advanced doctrines and princi- 
ples which ought to disgrace an idiot or characterize a 
villain. Whilst a Union Convention was assembled in 
Columbia during the sitting of the Legislature, I heard 



William Harper. 89 

Cliiiiicellor Harper declare that, " there was not another 
coimtiy in the world where such an assemblage would be 
tolerated.'' The object of this convention was to pre- 
serve the Union and expose nullification. And although 
there was a majority in favor of nullification, there was a 
large minority, composed of some of the best and wisest 
men in the State who opposed it. I have heard Chan- 
cellor Harper eulogize "the old Articles of Confederation" 
as a form of government. 

Chancellor Harper might have made a fortune if he 
had been as money-loving as some men. But he cared 
nothing for fortune, and declared most positively, that he 
would not accept Colonel Hampton's sugar plantation in 
Louisiana, and his thousand slaves, if required to keep it 
and manage it. 

The learning and ability of Chancellor Harper may be 
seen in his opinions of the Appeal Court, as reported in 
our law reports. He wrote but little else, and this is to 
be very much regretted, for he was a fine writer as well 
as a fine scholar. His high and pure character, great 
abilities and scholarship justly entitled him to rank with 
the greatest and best of Carolina's sons. 



DANIEL ELLIOTT HUGER. 

I have beeu more devoted to Judge Hiiger and loved 
him more tlian any other public man in South Carolina. 
He was my beau ideal of honor^ chivalry and manly 
character. Long before I knew him personally and 
before I was grown, I had the highest admiration of his 
character and Roman virtues. I became acquainted with 
him while reading law in Judge Earle's office. After my 
admission to the bar, I became intimate with him ; as 
intimate as I could be with one so much my senior in 
years, and so far above me in position. It is said that 
love begets love ; and I can only account for Judge 
Huger's affectionate regard for me on this principle. He 
(^ wfs a noble-looking gentleman, courteous and affable in his 
manners ; social, cordial and remarkably pleasant in con- 
versation. There was a high tone and bearing about him 
in conversation, manners and action, ^vliich attracted my 
admiration at first sight. He was tall, slender, and very 
erect in his person, even in old age. His complexion 
was dark, and his face agreeable, in spite of his huge 
eyebrows, which the Reverend Dr. Johnson said re- 
minded him, whilst the judge was speaking, of Milton^s 
expression of the devil — " and all hell grew darker at 
his frown." It is true that his dark frown and sardonic 
grin, whilst excited in debate, w^ere terrific. He was 
ever regarded by all as the highest specimen of a South 
Carolina gentleman of the old school. 

Judge Huger was a Federalist of the Washington 
stamp in politics. This prevented his early success in 
public life, and kept him out of the United States Senate 
till the close of liis life. Had he entered that body at an 



Daniel Elliott Huger. 91 

earlier period, he could have attained to very high and 
commanding influence in it. His talents were not of the 
highest order, nor were his attainments and learning- 
equal to that of some ; but he was a >wise man, a pure 
man, and in all times and in everything a safe counsellor. 
I would sooner have relied on his judgment about any 
question, than that of any other man I ever knew. The 
remark which Mr. Poinsett once made to me of General 
Jackson, might well be applied to Judge Huger. '' His 
wisdom was more of the heart than the head.'^ Indeed, 
there was a great similarity in many traits of character 
between Andrew Jackson and Daniel E. Huger. Judge 
Huger spoke well and wrote well. But while he was 
fond of speaking, and spoke very often, he seldom wrote 
anything for publication. His manner of speaking was 
slow, distinct and emphatic, with long pauses. This 
gave rise to the expression of the N ullifiers that he was 
"a man of short sentences and long pauses." In the 
Legislature of South Carolina, Judge Huger was for 
many years supreme dictator of the House of Represent- 
atives. In our nullification contest he had more influence 
in the Union party than any one else in all their cau- 
cuses and consultations. 

I rode the Western circuit with Judge Huger, and in 
his carriage, about the beginning of nullification. Our 
views in reference to the rights of the States and the 
powers of the national government were the same ; but 
on many other subjects we differed widely. He con- 
tended that no one should enter public life without a 
fortune. If he did, he would be so much exposed to 
temptation, and the world be so much inclined to sus- 
pect him, that he could not exercise the influence he 
otherwise might. The people would think him an office- 
hunter. Besides, he must neglect making a proper pro- 
vision for his family, which was incumbent on every one. 
This was all aristocratic heresy to me at that time, but I 
am now satisfied with its truth and wisdom. The judge 
declared that no member of Congress should receive any 



92 Daniel Elliott Huger. 

compensation for his services. This would, in a great 
measure, exchide all but the wealthy class from the 
council of the nation. I still doubt the wisdom of any 
such exclusion. 

Judge Huger spoke freely of Calhoun, Lowndes and 
Cheves. He said Calhoun would have made the greatest 
metaphysician in the world. He would take him in pre- 
ference to any other man in the Union to get an adminis- 
tration out of a difficultv. Judpe Huo-er and Governor 
Joseph Alston were members of the Legislature when 
Calhoun entered it a very young man. Alston was a 
great manager in all political movements. He was the 
son-in-law of Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United 
States, and had imbibed some of his father-in-law's love 
of intrigue and management. One day Alston came to 
Judge Huger and said : ^^ I am afraid I shall find this 
long awkward felloAv from Abbeville hard to manage." 
Calhoun, though very young and awkward, had satisfied 
Alston that he was disposed to set up for himself, and 
scorned the lead of any one. Judge Huger said that Mr. 
Calhoun was not expert at that time in framing resolu- 
tions, but no one excelled him in that respect in after life. 

"Mr. Lowndes," said Judge Huger, "was one of the 
purest and best men I ever knew. He was endowed by 
nature w^ith the very highest intellectual qualities, and 
was capable of filling and adorning any public station in 
the world. He was a man of perfect fairness in debate, 
as well as in all the relations of life. He would advance 
a proposition and give his reasons for it with us much 
al)ility as any one ; but if he failed he would never bring 
it forward again. Not so with Cheves. He Avould never 
give up a proposition or cease to contend for it." Judge 
Huger and William Lowndes had read law together, 
were very intimate, entered the I^egislature together, and 
were seconds for each other in several affairs of honor. 

In going from Greenville to Laurens Court, Judge 
Huger and myself staid all night with Colonel Lewers. 
He would not chartre for his entertainment. The next 



Daniel Elliott Hucier. 93 

day the judge found that the colonel had a case of assault 
and battery in court. He pleaded guilty, and the prose- 
cutor presented an affidavit. Judge Huger declined to 
pass sentence and continued the case. As we were going 
to Abbeville I inquired what had become of the case. He 
looked at me very sternly and said : " I would not think 
of sending a man to jail after sharing his hospitality." I 
told this to Judge Earle, who said that if it had been 
some other judge the colonel would have received a 
nominal sentence and been dismissed the court. In the 
trial of some case at Laurens, Judge Huger said to the 
jury, " That no father would do justice between his own 
son and a stranger.'' I remarked to him afterwards, in 
taking a walk, that I was surprised at this expression 
coming from him, for I had thought that he was too 
much of a Roman for that. He replied that he might 
think he was doing justice ; but nature would deceive 
him. We stopped at Colonel CampbelFs, on the Taluda, 
as we were going to Abbeville Court, and stayed all 
night. Mrs. Campbell had been partially brought up in 
the family of a cousin of the judge. She was speaking of 
matches of expediency, ^vith seeming approval. The 
judge said to her with a most indignant scowl: "Tell me 
that a virtuous woman will marry a man she don't love ? 
Never !" I have frequently thought of this expression 
in after life. The tone of the judge and the feeling mani- 
fested made a deep impression on my mind. If this 
opoinion be correct, and I shall not dispute it, how many 
are there who pass through life imsuspected. 

The judge told me that when his eldest daughter mar- 
ried her husband, Avho was a high-toned, honorable 
young man, he proposed that there should be a settlement 
of the wife's property. " No," said the judge, " I have 
entrusted you with the happiness of my child, which is 
much dearer to me than her fortune." He likewise gave 
his daughter this advice on leaving his house. " If any 
difficult should ever occur between me and your husbancl, 
remember you are to take sides with your husband 



94 Daniel Elliott Huger. 

against your fatlier." The judge, a short time after his 
marriage, challenged his brother-in-law, Major Rutledge. 
The major having been an officer in the army and a mau 
of honor and chivalry, accepted the challenge, and then 
suid to Mr. William Lowndes, Avho bore the challenge, 
that he would like to know what oifence he had given. 
Mr. Lowndes, the intimate and bosom friend of the 
judge, had to tell Major Rutledge that the cause of the 
hostile message had never been disclosed to him ! They 
met and exchanged shots and Eutledge was wounded, 
but no one ever knew the cause of their meeting. 

I was present in the Legislature when a difficulty 
occurred between Judge Huger and the Hon. R. B. 
Ehett. INIr. Rhett pointed his finger, in debate, at 
the judge, and said he despised the man who endeavored 
to scare the people with nullification. Judge Huger re- 
plied to the argument coolly and calmly, and as he con- 
cluded, said he had too much respect for the Honse to 
obtrude personal remarks in debate. Immediately he 
sent a challenge, and the matter was adjusted. On an- 
other occasion I was present when a young member of 
the Legislature alluded sarcastically to the judge's age. 
He promptly replied : " I have been brought up in a 
school which knows no age for dishonor.'^ When he 
and LoAvndes first ^vent to the Legislature, there was an 
old Scotchman, a lawyer named Faulker, who was also a 
member. He was a man of ability, and had made a 
speech to which the judge was replying in pretty severe 
terms. The Scotchman remarked loud enough to be heard 
by those around him: "What is that puppy barking at 
me for?'' The judge did not hear the remark, but no- 
ticed that it procluced a laugh at his expense. He asked 
the member to repeat what he had said. No notice was 
taken of the recjuest. On ascertaining what the w^ords 
were, he sent his friend, Lowndes, with a challenge. 
Faulker read it very carefully and put it in his breeches 
pocket. Lowndes, after waiting some time, inquired 
what message he should carry back to liis friend. "None 



Daniel Elliott Huger. 95 

at all/' was the sharp reply. Never were two young 
gentlemen, said the judge, so completely put out. They 
did not know what to do. They could not resort to 
personal violence on an old man. At last it was agreed 
that the judge should denounce the old lawyer in the 
House. This he did, and the old man took no notice 
of it. 

Judge Huger had been a leading member of the Legis- 
lature for several years, and a brigadier-general before he 
was admitted to the bar. His family had always been 
prejudiced against the profession. When admitted to 
the bar, a lawyer expressed his surprise to the judge, 
that he should have determined so late in life, to become a 
lawyer, in opposition to the prejudices of his family. 
The judge told him that his expenses in the city were so 
heavy that he had either to move to his plantation and 
live with his negroes, or be admitted to the bar and be- 
come the associate of lawyers. Between negroes and 
lawyers he had given the preference to the latter. 

Judge Huger was the son of General Huger, of the 
American Kevolution, and second in command of the 
Sjuthern army to General Greene. His mother Avas an 
Elliott. When General Greene was introduced to Gen- 
eral Huger's family, he said to him : ^^I did not know 
what an interesting family you had at home, or I might 
not have exposed you as much as I did in battle.'' The 
salaries of the judges were reduced by the 'Legislature, 
and Judge Huger immediately resigned. He was re- 
elected to receive the diminished salary. His punctilious 
sense of honor would not let him receive a larger com- 
pensation for his services than the State was willing to 
pay. In speaking of this public-spirited act. Colonel 
Preston, who was opposed to the judge in politics, re- 
marked that a thousand dollars was a very small matter 
with Judge Huger, who was a man of large fortune ; 
and that he would only have to take a glass of wine less 
every day to make up the loss in his salary ! In a few 
years afterwards he again resigned his seat on the bench 



96 Daniel Elliott Huger. 

to go into tlie Legislature, and save the State from niilli- 
ficatiou. When our pohtical excitement had died away, 
Judge Huger was elected to the United States Senate. 
This position he soon resigned to make room for Mr. 
Calhoun. The judge told me that he felt unfit for the 
Senate and the intrigues of Washington. 

In 1851, Judge Huger voted the secession ticket ! I 
inquired of him how it was that he had changed his 
politics ? He replied that he was a Union man, and 
hoped to see the Union preserved ! He said he voted for 
secession to save the Union ! How the old gentleman 
explained this I do not now remember. But I have no 
doubt he died a sincere lover of the Union, as hundreds 
of others have done, who voted the secession ticket. On 
the bench he made a good circuit judge, though not so 
profound a lawyer as some of his associates. His great 
good sense, w^isdom and judgment supplied any de- 
ficiency he might have had in professional learning. 

Judge Huger was a man of strong religious feelings 
throughout his life. I heard him in the Legislature, de- 
nounce, in no measured terms, the infidel notions of Dr. 
Cooper, President of the South Carolina College. He 
said no one should intrust the education of his sons to 
such a man. He once told me an expression of Governor 
Joseph Alston, in which he heartily concurred. The 
Governor said he pitied, from the bottom of his heart, the 
man who did not believe in the immortality of the soul. 
During our political excitement he was so much disturbed 
by politics that he withdrew from the Episcopal church ; 
but for several years previous to his death he Avas a 
regular communicant of the church. 

In speaking of Governor McDuffie, after they had 
served together in the United States Senate, Judge Huger 
remarked to me that INIcDuffie Avas a Christian in heart 
and feelings. He had all the charity, kindness and love 
of a Christian. Judge Huger, though a Federalist, was 
the advocate of the war of 1812. He said he Avas de- 
nounced l)y the Republicans as a Federalist, and by the 



Daniel Elliott Huger. 97 

Federalists as an apostate. His friends passed him in 
the streets without speaking. For several years Judge 
Huger and myself served together in the Legislature, 
boarded together at the same hotel, and always sat next 
to each other at the table, where we had every day long 
and interesting conversations. In these conversations I 
was greatly interested and edified. He amused me often 
by describing the manners and customs of a past age in 
South Carolina. He drew sketches of the public men of 
those times and told anecdotes of them. 

I have said Judge Huger and General Jackson were 
alike in many traits of their character. They were both 
the bravest among the brave. They were courteous and 
frank in their manners. Neither of them had much 
fondness for literature. Never were there two men who 
would more cheerfully have sacrificed their lives for their 
country. Judge Huger was a great talker, and talked 
remarkably well. He was fond of the company of ladies, 
and full of his compliments to them. The affection be- 
tween him and his cousin Alfred Huger was interesting. 
They appeared to each other like lovers. I was dining 
at Judge Huger's one day, when the newly-appointed 
postmaster Avas announced. If a lady with whom a 
gentleman was in love, had presented herself, there could 
not have been a more heartfelt manifestation. The judge 
always lived in magnificent style and entertained with 
great hospitality. He was a kind master, and took a 
most patriarchal care of his slaves. While on the circuit 
he discovered his coachman asleep as he was driving 
from one court house to another. Instead of reproving 
him he exchanged seats with him and told him to lie down 
in the carriage and make out his nap. 

Judge Huger was bitterly opposed to John Quincy 
Adams. He told me that, dining one day in Boston 
with a party of great men, he said to them that the 
South was willing to concede the next President to the 
North, if a suitable candidate was presented ; but that 



98 Daniel Elliott Huger. 

they would not support Mr. Adams. The geutleman 
asked who would be acceptable to the South, and Mr. 
Webster was named by Judge Huger. One of the com- 
pany immediately inquired of him if the South Avould 
support for the Presidency a laAvyer who pocketed his 
clients' money. The judge said he did not think they 
would, with a knowledge of the fact. 



FRANKLIN H. ELMORE. 

This gentleman was born in Laurens District. His 
father was General Elmore, and his mother a Saxon. He 
graduated at the South Carolina College ; read law and 
was admitted to the Bar. Very soon after he commenced 
the practice of law, he married the daughter of Governor 
John Taylor, of Columbia, and was elected Solicitor of 
that circuit. When Governor Hammond resigned his 
seat in Congress, Colonel Elmore was elected his suc- 
cessor. He remained in Congress several years, and ac- 
quired a high reputation there as a debater and political 
manager. He was then elected President of the Bank of 
the State, and remained at the head of this institution for 
many years. He managed its finances with great abilit}^, 
and defended the institution with untiring zeal and 
fidelity. It was assailed by many of the first men of the 
State, but Colonel Elmore always managed to repel their 
assaults with triumphant success. When the city of 
Charleston was burnt, in 1838, he managed to increase 
the capital of the bank several millions, by means of the 
" Fire Loan," for rebuilding the city. The Bank of the 
State became, in a measure, a political machine, and the 
politicians were very freely accommodated with loans by 
the Board of Directors. The bank controlled the State, 
and Colonel Elmore controlled the bank. 

The Governor, Seabrook, had intimated that he should 
reccommend, in his annual message to the Legislature, to 
put the bank in liquidation. This information was com- 
municated to Colonel Elmore, and thereupon, he wrote 
me the following letter ; and immediately after my arri- 
val in Columbia, he called to see me. He came to my 



100 Franklin H. Elmore. 

room aucl sat till a late hour in the night, urging the im- 
propriety of the course which Governor Seabrook was 
disposed to pursue in regard to the bank. I stated to 
him frankly that I was opposed to the bank, that I did 
not think it proper for the State to undertake the man- 
agement of a bank, and that I was in favor of bringing 
the institution to a close. My reasons and argument 
were set forth at some length. I can never forget the 
utter disappointment and mortification of Col. Elmore 
on that occasion. He left me sad and sorrowful, and I 
really felt pained for him : 

Charleston, Nov. 16, 1849. 

Dear Sir: Your course as a public man has ahvays 
been characterized by openness and candor, as well as by 
statesmanship that looks beyond the moment's victory 
into the more important results of the future. I write 
you, therefore, in the spirit of candor, and with the public 
welfare as my object, on a subject as deeply affecting South 
Carolina as any ever presented. 

I heard, at Columbia, from one ever hostile to the bank 
of the State, that Governor Seabrook would recommend 
its being put in immediate liquidation. It would have 
been incredible had no coming events cast their shadows 
before, but that which was rumor, as one might have sup- 
posed at Columbia, is repeated in the streets here, and is, 
I have reason to know, true. 

Now, my dear sir, on you and on your course more 
will depend than any man in the I^egislature, perhaps in 
the State. You can stay this ill-advised and rash meas- 
ure, and save your State, and perhaps the whole South, 
much trouble, perhaps fatal to our own prosperity, and 
hazarding the great Southern cause by its precipitation 
and the divisions and distractions it will inevitably pro- 
duce. We, arrayed in domestic conflict, into two fierce 
parties, will present a poor example of that union on 
which the South must rely, and a miserable head to rally 
and direct their movements. 



Franklin H. Elmore. 101 

But again. At this nioiiieiit I proclaim and declare 
this bank is stronger and more fully prepared to fiilfil all 
its functions than I ever knew it. It has never failed to 
fulfil every obligation. It has paid more than 1 5,000,- 
000 to public debts and treasury from profits. It has 
received and paid about $30,000,000 of public moneys, 
and never lost a cent. It has supported the State Gov- 
ernment, times without number, and for mouths, and for 
hundreds and thousands of dollars, when it had not a 
cent in its treasury. It has kept the faith and credit of 
the State and its own without blot or blemish ; and now, 
when it has six years of chartered existence to run, and 
is under pledge to the creditors of the State, abroad and 
at home, it is called to the bar of crime and ignominiously 
to be stripped of its privileges, and, like a convicted crim- 
inal, condemned to public execution. Can you aid in 
this? 

Do, my dear sir, write to me and let me know what 
will be your course, for I feel the deepest anxiety — not 
for myself, but for the State, its credit and good name and 
prosperity. 

To me, personally, the relief of ten years to pay my 
debts to it, which is to be one of the conditions, would be 
more than an equivalent for any personal discomfort. The 
relief, too, from the care and responsibilities of no bed of 
roses might restore a constitution and health broken 
down and destroyed almost in this Sisyphean labor for the 
public. 

Yours, truly, 

F. H. ELMORE. 

Hon. B. F. Perry. 

The bank, however, was not put in liquidation. It 
had too many friends in both Houses of the Legislature 
for such a measure to be successful. The bank continued 
its operations till the State ultimately lost the whole cap- 
ital, four or five millions of dollars, by the Confederate 
loans during our civil war. 



102 Franklin H. Elmore. 

Ou the death of Mr. Calhoun, Colonel Elmore Avas ap- 
l)oiuted to succeed him in the Senate of the United States. 
He remained in that body but a few months before he too 
Avas taken from life to eternity ! For many years, Col. 
Elmore, with his bank, was a power in the State, and a 
controlling power. He was one of the most adroit man- 
aging public men that I ever saw. His talents were of a 
high order, and his power of controlling others unsur- 
passed. In this respect he was not unlike General Jack- 
son, and his head and face were not unlike '^ Old Hickory." 
Mr. Calhoun once characterized President Jackson, in 
the Senate of the United States, as possessing the qualities 
of the lion, whilst Van Buren possessed those of the fox 
and the weasel. I think, with all his firnmess and cour- 
age, and other high qualities, there was more of the fox 
in General Jackson's face than of the lion. 

I once heard Col. Wade Hampton, the intimate friend 
of Col. Elmore, say that if there were two ways of ap- 
proaching any point, equally safe and secure, the one 
direct and the other circuitous, Elmore would always take 
the latter. But let no one suppose from this remark that 
(^ither Col. Hampton or myself doubted the honor and 
patriotism of Col. Elmore. He was an honorable man, 
and a most worthy and excellent gentleman. It w^as his 
nature to be courteous, wise and adroit. He seldom gave 
offence to any one. But I did hear him, one night, talk 
to Major Felder, a former member of Congress, from 
I^arnwell, and then a member of the Senate, from Orange- 
burg, like an angry master would speak to his slave ! I 
was chairman of the committee on finance, in the State 
Senate, and Major Felder was a member of my com- 
mittee. The operations of the bank were under investi- 
gation by the committee. Colonel Elmore, the President 
of the bank, was called before the committee for some ex- 
planation. After the committee adjourned, Col. Elmore 
addressed Major Felder in these words: "I give you 
notice, sir, that if I hear of your speaking of the affairs 
of the bank, after you return home, as you have done in 



Franklin H. Elmore. 103 

Columbia, I will hold you personally responsible for 
it!" 

When President Polk was elected, he tendered to Col. 
Elmore the mission to the Court of St. James, the first of 
all foreign missions. President Polk and Col. Elmore 
were in Congress together, and the offer of this Embassy 
to Great Britain, shows in what light the talents, powers, 
patriotism and ability of Col. Elmore were held by the 
President elect. Shortly after the refusal of the mission 
by Col. Elmore, General Thompson and myself met the 
Colonel, with his family, at the Lime Stone Springs. 
General Thompson said to him, seated in the piazza of the 
hotel : " There is some diiference, Elmore, between this 
and the Court of St. James." " Yes," replied Elmore, 
" I am here at home, with my wife and children, which 
is far more agreeable to me than being at a foreign court." 

I was going one day with Colonel Elmore to dine at 
Mr. Poinsett's, when he made some allusion to our rela- 
tive ages. I told him that when I was admitted to the 
Bar, he was pointed out to me as one of the great men of 
the State. He said this must then have been about the 
time he graduated, for he thought himself a greater man 
about that time than he had ever done since ! The Col- 
onel was a very warm-hearted friend, and a most pleasant 
gentleman in society. He was a devoted follower of Mr. 
Calhoun, and yet had great influence over him. I know 
that the friends of Mr. Calhoun were very anxious to have 
him in the Senate of the United States, as his colleague. 
They thought he was the safest counsellor Mr. Calhoun 
could have. A seat in the Senate was at that time ten- 
dered to Colonel Elmore, and I remember he called his 
friends together, in Columbia, to explain to them why 
he could not then accept of a seat in the United States Senate. 

On the death of Colonel Elmore, in Washington, both 
Houses of Congress paid a high tribute of respect to his 
memory. Mr. Webster spoke of him as "a leading 
member of the House of Representatives," and possessing 
" great talent." 



JAMES H. HAMMOND. 

Governor Hammond was, I have understood, born in 
Newberry District, South CaroHna, whilst his father re- 
sided there and had charge of a classical school. The 
father of Governor Hammond was a native of New Eng- 
land, and a gentleman of education and talents. He was 
the classmate of Daniel Webster in Dartmouth College, 
and immediately after graduating came to South Carolina. 
He married Miss Spann, a young lady of Edgefield Dis- 
trict, S. C. He afterwards moved to Columbia, and was 
connected in some way with the South Carolina College. 

Governor Hammond graduated in the South Carolina 
College with distinction, and commenced reading law and 
editing a newspaper in Columbia. He acquired consid- 
erable reputation as an editor, and his style was terse, 
classic and chaste. He was a bitter partisan in our nulli- 
fication contests, and got into several difficulties. An edi- 
tor at Camden, who Avas a northern man, poured out the 
vials of his wrath on Hammond in such a manner as to 
call for personal castigation. Hammond went to Camden 
with a friend, and gave the editor a horse-whipping, and 
was shot at by the editor. Soon afterwards he became 
involved in a chfficulty w^ith General Blair, a member of 
Congress from the Camden District. General Blair was 
a man of distinguished ability and wide reputation. 
Hammond was young, just entering public life, and he 
expressed some anxiety to know of the General whether 
he held himself personally responsible for what he had 
said of him. The General promptly replied that he would 
give any satisfaction he saw proper to demand. There- 
upon a challenge was sent and accepted. The General, 
anticipating a challenge, had made all his arrangements 



James H. Hammond. 105 

for a speedy meeting. They did meet on the field of 
honor with their seconds^ but mutual friends interfered 
and settled the difficulty. 

In speaking to me about this time of the life of an edi- 
tor, Hammond said, it would be very pleasant if all 
editors were gentlemen, and would observe that courtesy 
which was due between gentlemen. The friends of Gov- 
ernor Hammond had a very high opinion of his talents 
and ability. I heard such men as Col. William C. Pres- 
ton and Col Wade Hampton, declare that he was the 
most highly gifted and promising young man in the 
State. He was extremely handsome in his younger days, 
and soon married Miss Fitzsimmons, the sister of Colonel 
Wade Hampton's wife, and a lady of very large fortune. 
Hammond took charge of the estate, which consisted of 
lands and negroes, and managed it very prudently. He 
made fine crops, and improved the property very much. 
In the mean time he seemed disposed to live like a gen- 
tleman and enjoy his fortune. He built himself a mag- 
nificent residence in Columbia, and gave splendid enter- 
tainments, not surpassed by those of any gentleman in 
South Carolina. He wrote a series of articles in reply to 
the abolitionists of England and America, which attracted 
great attention, and endeared him to the planters of the 
South as the great champion of African slavery. He was 
nominated for Congress in the district composed of Barn- 
well, Richland, Orangeburg and Lexington, and was 
elected without opposition. Colonel Franklin T. Elmore, 
afterwards United States Senator, and President of the 
State bank, was for a short time in the field against him, 
but withdrew before the election came off*. 

In Congress Governor Hammond made a speech on the 
slavery question, which was regarded as the ablest vindi- 
cation of the South that had then appeared from any 
quarter. He remained in Congress only three or four 
years, when he resigned his seat, or declined a re-election. 
He then made the tour of Europe with his family, and 
was absent a year or two. On his return home he was a 



106 James H. Hammond. 

candidate for Governor and beaten by Governor llich- 
ardson. His friends put him in nomination two years 
afterwards^ and he was elected by a few votes over Gov. 
Allston, who was not a candidate, and declared in the 
Senate on the eve of his election that he did not desire 
the office at that time. Governor Hammond discharged 
all the duties as Chief Magistrate of the State with signal 
abilit}^ and integrity. I heard Col. Beaufort Watts say 
that he had been private secretary of a great many Gov- 
ernors, but had never seen one more accurate or impar- 
tial, or more prudent and firm. Whilst he filled the ex- 
ecutive chair he made war against the bank of the State, 
and sent the Legislature some very able messages, urging 
that the institution should be wound up. Col. Elmore, 
the President of the bank, replied to his argument in his 
annual report on the condition of the bank. Governor 
Hamond told me that he had spent weeks in the investi- 
gation of the bank and making his calculations, which 
were submitted to the Legislature. He said he had de- 
termined to do his duty boldly and faithfully, and leave 
the responsibility with the Legislature. The State Avas 
then divided into two parties. Bank and Anti-Bank. 
But the bank, with its three or four millions of capital 
to lend out, proved too much for the executive, and was 
re-chartered. 

Governor Hammond was also opposed to the State 
taking stock in all the railroads which were cliartered by 
the Legislature. He wrote several able articles on this 
subject, which were extensively circulated. But his op- 
position proved unavailing, as it had on the bank ques- 
tion. He left the capital immediately after the expira- 
tion of his term of office, and he did not return for fifteen 
or twenty years. He was brought forward twice during 
this time as a candidate for the United States Senate, but 
his supporters could not prevail on him to come to Co- 
lumbia and show himself to the Legislature. He seemed 
to be disgusted with the State and everything in it. 



James H. Hammond. 107 

When Judge Butler Avas elected to the ITnlted States 
Senate, Governor Hammond was his opponent and most 
zealously supported by his adherents through good and 
evil report. Some years afterwards he was again brought 
forward by his friends and elected to the United States 
Senate. After the election he came to Columbia, on his 
way to Washington, with his family. That was the first 
visit he had paid the capital since the expiration of his 
gubernatorial term. I called at the hotel to see him, and 
found him very much changed in appearance. He was 
no longer the handsome young gentleman I had known 
him in former days. He had grown stout and looked 
old. I took a very active part against him in the Legis- 
lature when Judge Butler was elected Senator, and I did 
not vote for him when he was ultimately elected. But 
I had a suspicion that his friends had, in some measure, 
mistaken his political views, and would find themselves 
disappointed in his course in the Senate, and I so ex- 
pressed myself publicly. In reply to these remarks, 
Governor Hammond wrote a long letter in which he con- 
curred with me in the views I expressed, and said his 
purpose was not factious. In a letter he wrote after- 
wards he said his purpose was " to keep South Carolina 
with the South," and that for this purpose " he had given 
a good many votes which he did not altogether like.'^ 

Whilst in the Senate Governor Hammond made a 
speech of great ability on the issues between the North 
and South. This speech attracted great attention North 
as well as South. His views were those of a statesman 
and not a mere politician. I received a letter from Judge 
Evans, who was the colleague of Governor Hammond, 
immediately after the speech was delivered, speaking in 
very high terms of the effort he had made in defence of 
the Southern States and their institutions. 

Whilst in Europe Governor Hammond made a rare 
and costly collection of paintings and statuary, which or- 
namented his house at Silver Bluff, and were greatly ad- 
mired by his friends and visitors. Many of them were 



108 James H. Hammond. 

originals of the greatest artists in Italy. He also had a 
fine library, and Avas a lover of literatnre and the fine 
arts. He was a very snccessfnl and scientific planter. In 
everything he was practical and wise. Throughout life 
he had a strong conviction that it was the interest of the 
Southern States to separate from the North ; but he was 
too wise and practical to encourage separate secession, on 
the part of South Carolina. His great object was, as he 
said to me in a letter already referred to, " to keep South 
Carolina with the Southern States.^^ He wrote a letter 
to the gentlemen of Columbia expressing the same senti- 
ments, which gave great oifence. 

Immediately after his election to the Senate I received 
from him the following letter : 

"Eed Cliffs, 31st Dec, 1857. 

Dear Sir : — From the whole of your remarks in the 
Mountaineer on the Senatorial election, I have come to 
the conclusion, that, although you opposed my election, 
you would cheerfully support me in a course of action 
that would accord with your vicAvs as to Avhat was best 
for the State and the South. 

'' From what I knoAv of you personally and otherAvise, 
I do not doubt that if ever the time arrives that you think 
the South and Southern institutions (?*. e., slavery) are en- 
dangered by Northern and anti-slaA^ery aggression ac- 
tually and practically, you Avill shoAV yourself a thorough 
Southern man, ^born to the manner.' I therefore ven- 
ture to write to you (not for your paper, nor for print), 
very frankly, in the hope of eliciting equal confidence 
from you. 

"About a month ago, at the time of my election, I 
thought the South in a more safe and honorable position 
in the Union and the opinion of the Avorld, than it had 
ever been in my time. The United States Bank obso- 
lete, internal improvements checked, free trade virtually 
installed, and the Avhole tone of the anti-slaA^ery party 
here and abroad loAvered and I thought changed, I did 



James H. Hammond. 109 

think we were on smooth water, and might safely and 
honorably abide in the Union and render freely and 
cheerfnlly onr mighty contribntion to its consummation 
as the greatest and noblest Empire the world has ever 
known. I would gladly indulge myself in this opinion yet, 

" I was perhaps the most unfit man the State could 
have summoned to the Senate at this time, for I have 
truly and entirely ignored all political affairs for many 
years, in the belief that I should never be called for 
again. I trust you will bear testimony to the fact that 
I said as much before the Legislature saw fit to deter- 
mine otherwise, and that my present position is not of 
my seeking, while under the circumstances to refuse it 
was impossible. 

" I do not intend to decide on any course for myself 
until I reach Washington, which I hope will be in the 
course of next week. But from what has occurred since 
the opening of the session of Congress, it does seem to 
me, at this distance, that it may be that the final and de- 
cisive crisis is close at hand, which is to settle the des- 
tiny of the slaveholders of the South forever. 

" Under these circumstances, I solicit your confidential 
opinion of affairs, and beg that you will confide in me so 
far as to write to me at Washington what you really 
think on each phase of affairs as it comes up. Shall the 
South make the Lecompton Constitution an ultimatum? 
Can we, the slave States, honorably remain in the Union 
if Kansas is refused admission because she asks it as a 
slave State? Do answer me these questions, and make 
whatever suggestions may occur to you.'' 

I had occasionally published extracts from the very 
interesting letters received from Judge Evans, the Sena- 
torial colleague of Governor Hammond, and it is to this 
that he good humoredly alludes in the following letter : 

"Washington, Feb. 14, 1858. 
" My Dear Sir : — I received yours of the 8th ult., am 
much obliged to you for your kindness and promptne^r, 



110 James H. Hammond. 

and also for the favorable mauuer you have spoken of 
me in your paper. You know in what a vortex people 
live here, and can imagine that, neAV to everything, and 
especially my own position, I have had enough to do to 
look and listen and try to learn. This is my excuse for 
not writing sooner. Besides, they tell me that you will 
put in your paper what your friends write you. I own 
that this has been a source of much amusement to me, 
but I don't like to amuse others in the same way ; and, 
not yet accustomed to wTite or speak otherwise than 
straight forward, and as I think I lack confidence in my 
own^discretion in writing a private letter for the public, 
I might get myself into great trouble by it. So, for a 
time at least, don't 'trot me out' in that way. On this 
condition I will give you some ideas that I think I 
shall lay before the Senate in a quiet way when I get 
the floor." He then gives me pretty much the substance 
of his intended Nebraska-Kansas speech and concludes 
by saying : " But until after I have made my speech 
don't gut it by letting this get into the papers. This is 
my thunder. I am afraid to speak it to any one here. 
I may change my mind and not speak it at all, l)ut such 
is my present opinion. It seems to me to be the only 
solution of the perverse conduct of men, and the present 
unnatural state of things here and in Kansas. I give it 
to you, at all events, as a speculation for your private 
amusement." 

"Washington, 9th April, 1858. 
My Dear Sir: — I have frequently thought I would 
write to you, but there was always something on the 
cards just ahead the result of Avhich I wished to commu- 
nicate, and therefore I deferred writing. I have come 
to the conclusion this will always be the case, and there- 
fore, having a leisure moment, write now. The news- 
papers give you a very full account of all that passes 
here, and will enable you to form as good an opinion of 
events and their foreshadowings as we can here, and per- 



James H. Hammond. Ill 

haps better, as you do not get all the false rumors that 
we do. The struggle here is not for the good of the 
country, and by no means for humanity. Abolition, 
pure and simple, occupies the minds of few, and the 
hearts of fewer, what is desired is power and spoils, and 
this is very thinly disguised. More than half the men 
in both the Houses think they have a chance for the 
Presidency, and act accordingly, utterly reckless of con- 
stitutional rights, principle, or the country. * * * 
I know no Northern man with any real pretensions to 
statesmanship save Seward, who is after all not much. 
They are all lawyers, or stump politicians or nothing. 
* * Tell me, when the thing is disposed of, what 
you think ought to be done by the South. My view now 
is to keep South Carolina with the South, and I give 
many votes I don't like, that we may not be considered, 
as we have been, factious." 



ANDREW P. BUTLER. 

I knew Judge Butler intimately for many years, and 
had a very strong friendship and high regard for him. 
When he was elected to the United States Senate, I took 
a very active part in the canvass for him. The contest 
between him and Governor Hammond was a very close 
one. In exerting my influence as a member of the Legis- 
lature to secure his election, I was actuated by various 
motives. My personal friendship for the judge was 
perhaps the first and the strongest. I thought he had 
talents which would distinguish him in the Senate, and 
that he would there do great honor to the State. I had 
the greatest confidence in his patriotism and integrity, 
and I did not think his manners, habits, learning or 
talents, suited to the bench. He was impetuous and 
sour on the bench, without knowing it. He was not 
a very learned or profound law^^er. In many cases 
where his judgment was at fault, he was inclined to 
throw the responsibility of deciding the case on the 
jury. He was so impatient in the trial of a case, and so 
fond of cutting his wit and making sport of everything 
that occurred, that a la^vyer felt unpleasant in trying 
before him a long and complicated case. 

Judge Butler was a man of high intellect and noble 
nature, just and honorable. He was cordial and affec- 
tionate in his disposition, but excessively fond of telling 
anecdotes and making sport of his best friends. He 
loved humor and fun dearly. In debates, when excited, 
he was eloquent. At other times, when not warmed by 
the subject, or inspired by the occasion, he Avas dull and 
awkward. In speaking, he was fond of making classi- 



Andrew P. Butler. 113 

cal alliLsions^ and referring, for illustration, to the his- 
tories of Rome and Greece, which he had studied well. 

Judge Butler was the son of General William Butler, 
a gallant officer of the Revolutionary army, and after- 
wards a member of Congress for many years. He was 
finally beaten for Congress by John C. Calhoun. Judge 
Butler graduated at the South Carolina College, and, 
after reading law, was admitted to the bar. He used to 
tell an amusing story of his going to Orangeburg to es- 
tablish himself as a lawyer, immediately after his admis- 
sion to the bar. Whilst at the hotel, he told the servant 
who was attending to his room, to bring something to 
make the fire burn. In a short time the negro boy re- 
turned with several small pieces of plank, which looked 
very suspicious and strange to the judge. He inquired 
of the boy where he had got this kindling for the fire. 
With perfect innocence and frankness, he replied : " Out 
here at the graveyard.'' "What!" said the judge, "rob- 
bing the dead to kindle a fire ? Take every one of those 
pieces back, you rascal, and place them where you got 
them !'' They were little pieces of plank, which had 
been put at the head and foot of graves. The judge con- 
cluded it was no place for him to settle, where they had 
so little reverence and respect for their dead. He re- 
turned to Edgefield, and there commenced his professional 
career. 

He w^as employed in a case of slander for the defence. 
This was his first case. The defendant came to him and 
told him that the plaintiif was a mean fellow, and a 
great rascal, and he wanted him severely handled in the 
argument. The judge said he accordingly exhausted all 
his powers of abuse on the plaintiff, and had no doubt 
that he had increased the verdict against his client a 
thousand dollars by his unwarrantable abuse ; but so 
much pleased was the defendant by his speech, that he 
took the judge to a jeweler's shop and made him a 
present of a gold watch as a fee in the case. 



114 Andrew P. Butler. 

In the Legislature, the judge spoke very often without 
preparation, and on one occasion, was not altogether 
accurate in his quotation of one of the Ten Command- 
ments. Thereupon, old Sam Dickson, a member from 
Pendleton, who was a great wag, and always drunk, 
undertook to correct him in his quotation, and said as 
his young friend did not seem to be familiar with the 
Commandments, he would repeat them for his benefit. 
The galleries were filled with ladies. The old member 
went on repeating them with great emphasis and long 
pauses, till he came to the seventh ; after repeating it, he 
stopped, and remarked that he hoped his young friend 
would never forget that one. 

In repartee, the judge was always happy and severe. 
On one occasion, in the trial of a case at Anderson, Peter 
Vandiver, a young lawyer, said to the judge that he 
differed with him in opinion as to the admissibility of 
the proposed testimony. The judge replied, that might 
be, but that his opinion in the ruling was worth some- 
thing and Mr. Vandiver's was not. I witnessed a pas- 
sage at arms, once, between the judge, who lived at Edge- 
field, and the Hon. A. Burt, who resided at Abbeville, 
in reference to the comparative morals and temperance 
of the two districts. The judge said he had seen more 
drunkenness at the last court at Abbeville than he, ever 
saw at Edgefield. " But there was this difference,'' said 
Mr. Burt; "at Edgefield you see gentlemen drunk, 
which you never see at Abbeville." The judge replied 
that he did not know there were any gentlemen at Abbe- 
ville to get drunk. 

In a very short time after Judge Butler took his seat 
in the United States Senate, he gave that body a speci- 
men of his wit and humor, at the expense of a Senator 
from Tennessee, which convulsed the gravity and dignity 
of the Senators very much. The member had made 
some assaults on Mr. Calhoun, and the judge replied 
with a comparison of the Senator most supremely ridicu- 
lous, but which I cannot ^o^v undertake to repeat. The 



Andrew P. Butler. 115 

judge very soon took a high position in the Senate as a 
public speaker, and was greatly esteemed by his compeers 
in that body, then illustrious for its talent, eloquence 
and patriotism. 

The social qualities of Judge Butler were very extra- 
ordinary, and as a boon companion he could not be sur- 
passed. He always kept the company merry and 
amused at his wit and humor, pleasant stories and 
laughable anecdotes. He had a great many warm, per- 
sonal friends, who always supported him, though differing 
with him in politics. He was a Whig, when elected to 
the Senate by a Legislature entirely Democratic. Judge 
Butler, though a nullifier in 1832, was opposed to se- 
cession in 1850, and took the stump in favor of co- 
operation, which was, in fact, a Union party in disguise, 
for there was no hope of the other States co-operating at 
that time in any movement against the Union. 



JOSIAH J. EVANS. 

Forty-five years ago, my acquaintance with Judge 
Evans commenced. I was an applicant for admission to 
the bar, and he was one of the examining committee, 
together with Chancellor Harper and Governor Miller. 
They were all then practicing lawyers, but immediately 
afterwards transferred to high posts of honor. It was 
not customary in those days for the applicant to be pre- 
viously examined by the conmiittee, or have the slightest 
intimation as to the questions to be propounded. But 
the manner of Judge Evans in conducting the examina- 
tion, was so kind and gentle, so courteous and instructive, 
that he completely won our hearts. The students in- 
vited him and other members of the committee to a 
sumptuous dinner, that evening, at the United States 
Hotel. They accej^ted the invitation and we had a most 
pleasant, agreeable and joyous party. In the course of 
conversation, one of the students remarked to the judge, 
that from his manner of propounding the questions, the 
class had come to the conclusion that he must have been, 
at some period of his life, a school-master. He replied 
that our conclusion was correct, for he had once taught 
school, but was not aware that the pedagogue was so 
visible in his manner as to show itself in the presence of 
their Honors, Judges Nott, Johnson and C'olcock, who 
then composed the Court of Appeals. 

At that time, Judge Evans was Solicitor of the Eastern 
Circuit, an office which he had filled for many years with 
great ability ; and together with Governor Miller, stood 
pre-eminent as a lawyer in that section of the State. I 
had the pleasure of hearing him ouce only in the Court 



JosiAH J. Evans. 117 

of Appeals before his election to the bench. He argued 
his case with great learning and ability, and spoke with 
great animation. He felt the truth of the positions he 
took in his argument ; but there was no effort at dis- 
play, no rhetorical floiu'ishes. Every word told and 
was to the point. His language was chaste and beauti- 
ful. I remember his style of speaking reminded me, at 
the time, of my revered preceptor in the law. Judge 
Earle. 

Judge Evans w^as the model of a Circuit judge. He 
never had a superior in South Carolina. His mind and 
his character were judicial. He thought as a judge, 
he spoke as a judge, and acted as a judge. On the 
bench I knew him well, practiced before him long, and 
had the honor of his confidence and intimacy. In a 
letter now before me he says : " Up to the last moment 
Avlien it was practicable, it was my intention to have 
gone to Columbia, but I had so many things to do, 
preparatory to such a long absence, that I had finally to 
give it up. Nothing could have gratified me more than 
to see (as I would have done there) so many dear friends, 
and among the rest, none more valued than yourself." 
He was well read and learned in his profession. His 
mind and memory were strongly imbued with the great 
principles of the common law, and he was particularly 
familar with all our legislative enactments and the de- 
cisions of our courts. He was endowed by nature with 
a clear head, a Avell-balanced mind, and an unerring 
judgment. He was always cool, calm and dispassionate, 
and never at fault on the bench. He never took sides 
in any case, as a judge, but always weighed the testimony 
carefully, and submitted it most impartially to the jury. 
They could see him holding the scales of justice with a 
firm, steady hand, and balancing the beam with a firm- 
ness and impartiality which showed him far above the 
shadow of passion or prejudice. In his charges on the 
law, he was plain, positive, direct and decided. Dis- 
honest cunning in a politician very often avoids responsi- 



118 JosiAH J. Evans. 

l)ility, and sometimes lionest ignorance in a judge induces 
the same course. Judge Evans never felt this virtuous 
necessity. He was a most patient judge, a great virtue 
in a judge, next to those of honesty and learning. He 
was always kind and courteous to the bar, and yet no 
judge ever had more dignity of manner, commanded 
more respect in court, or dispatched more promptly the 
business of the court. The prince of practical wisdom 
and good sense was Judge Evans on the bench and off 
the bench. He had no vanity to hear himself talk to 
the bar and the jury, and always knowing just what was 
necessary to be said, so much he said and no more. His 
rulings of points made during the progress of a case, 
were decisions, not dissertations. In fifteen minutes he 
would present the whole case to the jury, more easily 
comprehended than if he had charged them two hours. 
Whilst engaged in a celebrated case in Washington, 
which occupied the District Court five or six weeks, 
Judge Evans said to me, " I lay a wager that I can try 
your case with a South Carolina jury and bar in three 
days.^^ 

In the Appeal Court, I cannot speak of Judge Evans 
in the consultation room ; but I feel well assured that his 
brethren will award him there, as the bar have done on 
the Circuit, the highest honors. I knew him only in the 
Appeal Court through the opinions he delivered, and 
which are reported in our decisions of cases. His 
style of writing was eminently judicial, close, concise and 
neat. He made no unnecessary display of learning in his 
opinions. He decided the points of the case without any 
dissertation on general principles or collateral issues not 
involved in the case. 

As a companion, Judge Evans Avas always social, 
pleasant and agreeable. He possessed great good humor 
and cheerftilness of disposition. I do not remember ever 
to have seen him depressed, sad or melancholy. He en- 
joyed an anecdote or witticism, and would laugh most 
heartily over a good joke. He always conversed well. 



JosiAH J. Evans. 119 

and made himself interesting to his friends. He gave 
them information without lectures^ and never tried to im- 
press the company with his superiority. He desired no 
monopoly in the conversation, but talked and listened as 
seemed most agreeable to those present. He had a warm 
heart and loved his friends, but hated no one. He ab- 
horred vice and despised vicious habits, wherever and 
whenever he met them. 

Judge Evans was a graduate of the South Carolina 
College, and when admitted to the bar, his whole patri- 
mony had been exhausted in his education, save one body 
servant. But he died possessed of a very large fortune 
in lands and negroes, which he had made by his pro- 
fession and planting. He never speculated, and had the 
greatest contempt for money-lenders and usurers. He 
thought the practice begat an insensibility to human 
suffering, and robbed the heart of all the finer and nobler 
sensibilities of our nature. He was an excellent planter, 
systematic, prudent and successful. He was kind to his 
slaves, administered to their comforts, and made them 
happy. In return, they were loyal, obedient and faithful, 
and loved him as a master. 

Whilst Judge Evans was a wise statesman and a pure 
patriot, he was no politician, and had no relish for poli- 
tics. Once only he consented to serve in the Legislature, 
and that Avas just as he was starting in life. He had 
been brought up in the States' Rights school of politics, 
under the lead of Governor Williams and Judge Smith, 
of South Carolina, and Wm. H. Crawford of Georgia. 
This threw him in opposition to Mr., Calhoun and his 
school of national politics. When the nullification con- 
troversy sprang up in South Carolina, Judge Evans was 
on the bench. I remember a long and interesting con- 
versation with him at that time on that subject. He 
then had his misgivings and doubts as to the propriety 
and constitutionality of nullification. He said, however, 
that he should advise his friends to go for a Convention 
of the State, as it was an onward step in our resistance 



120 JosiAH J. Evans. 

to an unjust and aggressive tariff. It ^vas not in his na- 
ture to be a partisan ; he was essentially conservative in 
all things. He frequently said to me, in his letters and 
conversation, that he feared he was too much of an 
old fogy for the times. He never was a disunionist at 
heart, and always looked forward to that possible event, 
as one of the greatest calamities which could befall our 
country. In a letter to me, dated Washington, April 14, 
1854, he says : "I love the Union, and hope it will be 
perpetual ; but at the same time, I love our little State, 
as I know you do, and will stand by its rights when in- 
vaded, with my last breath. We have, indeed, been 
rather too belligerent at times, but I do not think we 
have lost much of national feeling, and I am sure we 
have lost nothing of national character.^' Again, he 
writes me, Washington, December 16, 1855 : ^'I have 
heard more doubts about the stability of the Union ex- 
pressed, since I have been here, than ever before from all 
quarters. I am not a despairing man, and still hope we 
may be saved. The Democratic party are true to the 
Constitution, and there is hope they will triumph. Four 
or five Whig members of the Senate will, hereafter, co- 
operate with us in the eftbrt to save the Union, by up- 
holding the constitutional rights of every section of the 
Union.'^ In 1851, Judge Evans opposed the secession 
movement, and was elected a member of the State Con- 
vention. In that Convention he made a happy speech, 
which Avas well received, and has been recently compli- 
mented and referred to. 

In 1852, Judg.e Evans was elected to the Senate of the 
United States. I had the honor of first suggesting his 
name publicly. It was against his wishes, and with 
great reluctance he consented to serve. He said to me 
most positively, " I will not be a candidate.^' I replied, 
^ve do not wish you to be a candidate, but only say you 
will serve if elected. Before the election came on, I 
called to see him in Columbia, and told him I had one 
more request to make, and that was not to speak of the 



JosiAH J. Evans. 121 

election. He then expressed a desire to see Colonel 
Chestnut elected, who was in the field as a candidate, 
with Colonel Pickens, Colonel Preston, and, I think, 
Mr. Rhett. After several ballotings had taken place, 
the friends of the other candidates, or some of them at 
least, went to Judge Evans, to know his mshes. He 
replied that he had left the whole matter in my hands, 
and had nothing to say about it. 

When Judge Evans first took his seat in the Congress 
of the United States, on the 4th day of March, 1853, I 
was in the City of Washington, and know that he made, 
during that short extra sitting of the Senate, a most 
favorable impression on his compeers and brother Sena- 
tors. He seemed better pleased with his new position 
than he had anticipated. The day after his arrival a 
little incident occurred which pleased him. He received 
a note from the wife of a distinguished citizen of Wash- 
ington, stating that she had just ascertained that the 
newly-elected Senator from South Carolina was her old 
schoolmate and friend, Josiah J. Evans, whom she had 
not seen for forty-five years. She and her husband united 
in asking the pleasure of his company at dinner with 
them the next day. In the Senate, Judge Evans did not 
aspire to be a leader in debate. He said to me in a 
letter, during the Kansas .discussion of 1854: ^^Our 
members have borne themselves gallantly on the Ne- 
braska bill. Butler's speech was among the best, and 
Brooks and Keitt have both made excellent speeches. I 
was strongly tempted to say something, but I could add 
nothing to the argument, and I am too old to make a 
speech for Buncombe. If I can be of any use here, it 
will be by a patient investigation of the matters that come 
before Congress, and to present the results more in a ju- 
dicial than a forensic style, as I have lately done on a 
bill which I had presented from the Committee on Revo- 
lutionary Claims, for the final adjustment of the claims 
of the officers of the Revolution. In this way I hope to 
acquire some influence and to be of use to my country 



122 JosiAH J Evans. 

for the few years tliat are left me of life.'^ Judge EvaDs 
did acquire, iu au emiueut degree, the esteem and respect 
of the Senate. Even his bitter poHtical opponents had 
the highest regard for him as a man and a Senator. This 
was manifested iu the Senate. He was, indeed, as one 
of the Repubhcans said, worthy of being a Roman Sena- 
tor, for he possessed all the high virtues of a Roman — 
firmness, patriotism and incorruptible integrity. 

His speech in reply to Sunmer, and in vindication of 
South Carolina and her history and institutions, is a noble 
production, worthy of the best days of Rome and her 
most finished orators. I have no hesitation in saying, that 
for style, temper, matter, and artistic finish, it is the best 
speech ever made in the Senate of the United States on 
the slavery question. Immediately after he delivered it, 
he wrote me that he had not used one-half of the mate- 
rial which he prepared for the occasion, but that he was 
two hours on his feet — longer than he had ever been 
since he had left the bar — and was completely exhausted. 
I have understood that this speech was more generally 
circulated at the North, and did the South more good, 
than any speech which ever came from a Southern 
Senator. It was the speech of an orator, statesman and 
patriot. 

In January 1857, Judge Evans wrote me freely and 
confidentially on the Kansas question. He said : " I am 
heartily sick of the subject, and care not if Kansas were 
sunk in the bottomless ocean. In fighting for the Le- 
compton Constitution we are fighting for a shadow, so far 
as any ultimate good can come to the South ; but we are 
contending for a principle of vital importance. I have 
long since given up all hopes of Kansas becoming a slave 
State." The last letter I received from him was dated 
the third day of March, 1858, and in that letter he said 
he thanked God that that day twelve months would be 
his last day in the Senate of the United States. He died 
in Washington before that wished-for day arrived. 



, JosiAH J. Evans. 123 

Judge Evans contiuued to feel, after he ^vas elected to 
the Senate and had to resign his seat as a member of the 
Board of Trustees, a deep interest in the South Carolina 
College. In his letters to me, he frequently spoke of his 
Alma Mater, and inquired how the College was going on. 
He had a great horror of a public debt, and thought we 
were pushing too far our railroad system. He doubted 
the policy and practicability of some of our projects. He 
repudiated Walker and the whole system of filibustering, 
as contrary to national honor and faith, as well as private 
honesty. 

There were few men whom I ever saw on whose judg- 
ment I could sooner rely than that of Judge Evans. The 
State suffered a great loss in his death, and one which 
she felt most sensibly. He was a man of judgment and 
wisdom, firmness and honesty ; and such men are always 
to be preferred in the councils of the nation, to the man 
of genius, whose life too often is nothing but a halo of 
errors, destructive to the best interests of his country. 



ROBERT W, BARNWELL 

I have seen in my day and time a number of great 
men, but I never knew a more perfect one than Robert 
W. Barnwell. In his early manhood he was extremely 
handsome. His features were regular and his face most 
attractive. His head large and well formed with a broad 
and expansive forehead. His eyes, when animated, very 
brilliant, and his countenance indicated the kindness and 
goodness of his nature. In his person he was well pro- 
})ortioned, rather above the ordinary height and graceful 
in his movements. He w^as rather slender, but had the 
appearance of health and strength. No one could see 
him without being struck with his fine appearance and 
manly form. I first saw him sitting in the Judiciary 
Committee room in 1826. It w^as in the night and 
seated with him were all the members of the committee, 
Col. James Gregg, Judge Butler, Judge Wardlaw and 
others. My attention was attracted to him by his noble 
and intellectual face, and I inquired who he was. I was 
told that he was a young member from Beaufort, who 
graduated at Harvard College with tlie first honors of 
iiis class. He was most tastefully dressed, and I said 
his appearance reminded me of my idea of a young 
English nobleman. At that time I was reading law in 
Col. Gregg's office in Columbia. 

Mr. Barnwell's manners equaled his personal appear- 
ance. They were kind, cordial and high bred, thong] i 
modest and unassumiup;. You miuht be attached to him 

o p 

l)y his handsome face and beaming countenance, as I 
was; but his manly frankness, cordiality and polished, 
graceful manners, attached you to him. He was, indeed, 



Robert W. Barnwell. 125 

a born gentleniaii, and all his instincts and impnlses 
were honorable and patriotic. He was as pnre a man 
and as high-toned a gentleman as ever breathed the 
breath of life. The Chevalier Bayard was not more en- 
titled to the soubriquet given him than was Mr. Barn- 
well. But he was something more than a pure and hon- 
orable man. He was a most devoted and pious Chris- 
tian from early manhood to his death in old age. His 
purity and piety were equaled by his patriotism, which 
was ardent and catholic. His love and devotion to his 
native State was equal to that of any of her sons, and at 
the same time his heart was large enough to embrace his 
whole country. . There was nothing narrow, contracted 
or selfish about his nature. His heart was as broad and 
as generous as his intellect was high and towering. 

Mr. Barnwell was not only a man of talents of a very 
high order, but he w^as a learned and accomplished 
scholar. Whilst a very young man he was elected Presi- 
dent of the South Carolina College, and that noble State 
institution was at no period of its existence in a more 
flourishing condition than it was under his administra- 
tion. He doubled the number of • its students and at- 
tracted to it young men from all the Southern States. 
At the time of his election to the Presidency of the Col- 
lege he Avas a member of Congress, elected from the 
Beaufort District, Avithout opposition. Immediately 
after his graduation at Harvard, he read law and Avas 
admitted to the bar. Within a very short time after his 
admission he Avas elected a member of the Legislature, 
and it was then that I first saAv him. In the Legisla- 
ture he had a very high character for talents, learning 
and patriotism, but his modesty prevented his taking 
a very actiA^e part in the discussions of the House. 
He said he did not think it becoming in a young mem- 
ber to thrust himself forward and attempt to lead the 
House where there Avere so many older members. 

Mr. BaruAvell was elected a member of Congress after 
he had served tAVO sessions in the State Legislature, I 



126 Robert W. Barnwell. 

think he had served only two sessions of Congress when 
he was elected President of the college. After serving 
several years in that high position he resigned and retired 
to his plantation in Beanfort. He was then elected to 
the United States Senate where he made several speeches 
which gave him a national reputation. He declined a 
re-election to the United States Senate and returned once 
more to private life. 

When the secession movement took place in South 
Carolina, he did not favor separate State action. I re- 
member he made a speech, which gave great oifence to 
some of his Blulfton friends. But he went cheerfully and 
heartily with his State when she did secede, and was 
elected a delee^ate to the Southern Convention which as- 
sembled at Montgomery, and when the Confederate Gov- 
ernment was organized he was offered the appointment 
of Secretary of State by President Davis, which he de- 
clined, and recommended Col. Memminger as Secretary 
of the Treasury, who Avas appointed. He was then 
elected a Confederate Senator, and served in that position 
till the close of the war and the downfall of the Con- 
federacy. 

Mr. Barnwell was a large slaveholder and a wealthy 
man before the war, but the emancipation of his slaves 
rendered his lands of little value and reduced him to 
poverty. He was at this time residing in Greenville, 
and he consulted me about his opening a school some- 
where in the upper country for the purpose of making a 
support for himself and family. I was at the time a 
trustee of the South Carolina College, and said to him 
that I thought he could be elected President of the col- 
lege, if he would accept the position, and I immediately 
wrote to the trustees and he w^as elected. Mr. Barnwell 
had taken an active part, w^hilst in the Confederate Sen- 
ate, in having me appointed one of the commissioners to 
assess the value of property taken for the use of the army, 
and then in procuring from President Davis my appoint- 
ment as District Judge. And I was much gratified in 



Robert W. Barnwell. 127 

haviEg an opportunity of returning his kindness by be- 
stowing on liini an office which he was so eminently 
quahfied to filL 

Mr. Barnwell continued at the head of this institution 
till he was removed by the infamous board of trustees 
elected by the negro and carpet-bag Legislature. He 
then opened a school with his daughters, in Columbiaj 
for the purpose of educating young ladies. 

I never went to Columbia without calling to see him. 
I remember as I was going on to the Philadelphia Con- 
vention, in 1866, asking his advice as to the course the 
Southern members should pursue in that convention. He 
said we ought not to make ourselves prominent, but let 
the Northern and Western delegates shape the action of 
the convention. He gave me the same counsel as I was 
going to the New York Convention, a year or two after- 
wards, when Governor Seymour w^as nominated for the 
Presidency. 

In one of my last consultations with Mr. Barnwell, he 
spoke most feelingly of the degradation of the State. He 
said there was no instance in all history where a civilized 
people had been treated so meanly by their government. 
He said the legislation of the Republican party had been 
with a view to the amalgamation of the two races in the 
Southern States. Their purpose was to degrade the peo- 
ple by having a mongrel race. He said the vanity and 
self-importance of the negro was amusing. You might 
kick him and cuff him about, and he would still think 
himself a better man than you were. 

Mr. Barnw^ell was in the true sense of the word an or- 
ator. He felt, in all his public speeches, the truth of 
every word he uttered, and his earnestness and ardor 
made you feel the same. He always spoke with great 
animation. His eloquence was an inheritance. His 
father w^as a member of Congress after the close of the 
Revolutionary War, in which he had taken an active and 
conspicuous part, and was distinguished for his eloquence. 
Had Mr. Barnwell been ambitious or selfish he mi^ht 



128 Robert W. Barnwell. 

have been niiieli more distinguished. Bat his only am- 
bition was to discharge his duty conscientiously in every 
position he filled. He never sought honors or position. 
They were always thrust on him by those who knew and 
appreciated his worth and wisdom. He was one of the 
last of the old Carolina gentlemen, and if not '' the noblest 
Roman of them all/' he was in all the highest qualities 
of head and heart, the equal of any one of them. 



ROBERT BARNWELL RHETT. 

I saw Mr. Rhett for the first time in 1826, whilst I 
was reading law in Col. James Gregg's office, in Colum- 
bia. He was then a member of the Legislature, and 
elected for the first time from Beaufort. His cousin, 
Robert W. Barnwell, afterwards President of the South 
Carolina College, and United States Senator, was also a 
member of the Legislature from Beaufort. I noticed 
that they were very much together and seemed very inti- 
mate, and this cordial intimacy continued throughout the 
life of Mr. Rhett. His name was then Smith, which was 
so common a name that he and all his family, except his 
unmarried sister, changed it to Rhett, which had been a 
family name of their maternal ancestors, in the early set- 
tlement of South Carolina, and was then extinct in the State. 

Mr. Rhett was then regarded as a very brilliant and 
promising young man. He spoke very often in the Leg- 
islature, and always spoke with great fervor and animation. 

I was present in the Legislature when Mr. Robert 
Barnwell Rhett, then Smith, had a difficulty with Judge 
Huger, in 1828. They were both members of the House. 
Judge Huger had resigned his seat on the bench to go 
into the Legislature from Charleston, for the purpose of 
checking the spirit of nullification and disunion, which 
was then prevalent all over the State. Mr. Rhett and all 
the nullifiers in the House were trying to evade a direct 
vote on the question of nullification. They called them- 
selves ^^ States' Rights men,'' and were not at that time 
prepared to be dubbed ^^ Nullifiers." Judge Huger 
taunted them with an effiDrt to evade the proper issue. 
Mr. Rhett replied with great indignation and scorn. 



130 Robert Barnwell Rhett. 

Pointing his finger at Judge Huger, he said he despised 
the man who was trying to make a bugaboo of nulhfica- 
tion for the purpose of scaring the people of the State ! 
Judge Huger rephed very coolly to Mr. Rhett's argu- 
mentj and concluded by saying that he had too much re- 
spect for the House to intrude in personalities before 
them. He sat down and wrote a challenge, and sent for 
his cousin, Alfred Huger, who was then a member of the 
Senate, to deliver it to Mr. Rhett. The affair was ad- 
justed that night by mutual friends, and the next morn- 
ing Mr. Rhett came into the House and made the 
amende honorable. He said that he had always enter- 
tained the highest regard for the member from St. Philips 
and St. Michael, and Avhat he had said had been uttered 
in the heat of passion, etc. That he knew the gentleman 
to be honorable and brave amongst the bravest. 

Mr. Rhett was for some years chairman of the com- 
mittee of Ways and Means in the House, and one of the 
most efficient and active members of the Legislature. At 
that time it was a very able body, and had as its mem- 
bers. Chancellor Harper, Chancellor Dunkin, Judge 
Wardlaw, Judge Butler, Colonel Gregg, Judge Glover, 
Judge Whitner, Colonel Pickens, Judge Frost, General 
Thompson, and many other distinguished members of the 
House. In the Senate Avere Judge Smith, Governor Wil- 
liams, Governor Miller, Thomas Grimke, Governor 
Wilson, etc. 

After serving in the Legislature a number of years, he 
was elected Attorney-General of the State and then a 
member of Congress from Beaufort. Whilst a candidate 
for Congress, he changed his name. When it w^as an- 
nounced that Robert B. Rhett was elected, the Northern 
papers stated that no such person had been a candidate 
for Congress in South Carolina, and that there must be 
some mistake in the name. Shortly after his election, 
Mr. Rhett came to Greenville Avith his family and spoke 
of purchasing and building AA'here the Furman Univer 
sity now stands. He authorized me to make the purchase 



Robert Barnwell Rhett. 131 

of Mr. McBee ; but Mr. McBee refused to sell down to 
the river, and Mr. Rhett wrote me that he would not 
think of purchasing unless he could own to the water. 
Mr. McBee said he would not sell the land on the river 
for any price, as he anticipated it would, some day, be 
of great value for manufacturing purposes. 

Judge Clayton, of Georgia, was in Greenville with his 
wife when Mr. Rhett came here. He had been in Con- 
gress several years, and had acquired quite a national 
reputation as a Southern fire-eater. His celebrated toast 
at Laurens was well known : " He who dallies in seces- ^ 
sion is a dastard, and he who doubts is damned !" I had 
the pleasure of introducing Mr. Rhett to Judge Cla}i:on, 
and thought they would be most congenial spirits. Im- 
mediately they got into some political argument, and Mr. 
Rhett became very much excited. His manner was most 
passionate, and his language strong and unguarded. 
Judge Clayton said to me the next morning that my 
friend Rhett would have to moderate his tone and lan- 
guage Avhen he took his seat in Congress. Being a very 
strong Union man myself, I thought it was like the devil 
reproving sin ! 

Mrs. Rhett w^is the opposite of her husband. She was 
a most amiable, mild and gentle lady, very beautiful and 
intelligent. He was all passion, excitement and fire. 
How generally is it the case that men and women love 
opposites. A little man gets himself a large wife, a very 
talkative Avoman prefers a silent gentleman, and a pas- 
sionate man chooses a calm, good-natured wife. I sup- 
pose Darwin would say this was a law of nature to pre- 
vent too strong a development in one line. How often, 
too, is it the case that a beautiful, delicate lady marries a 
large, rough man, the very opposite of herself. Refined, 
cultivated women do not fancy, as a general rule, ex- 
quisites, who think themselves handsome. 

There were no two men who were more antipodes of 
each other than Mr. Rhett and myself in politics, and 
yet our social relations were always kind, courteous and 



132 Robert Barnwell Rhett. 

cordial. The winter after lie was iu Greenville^ I went 
to Charleston and he called to see me at Stewart's hotel, 
invited nie to dine with him, and had a large party of gentle- 
men to meet me. I was in Richmond immediately after 
the battle of Manassas, and he showed me great atten- 
tion, went with me to the war department to procure a 
passport to visit the army. In speaking of the battle he 
said it Avas remarkable how^ many of the greatest victories 
of the w^orld had been barren of results. He mentioned 
Hannibal's crushing victory at Cannae. The Roman 
army and the nobility of Rome were destroyed, and yet 
Hannibal did not mai'ch on and capture the city. He 
thought the Confederate army ought to have gone on and 
taken the Federal city. 

Mr. Rhett had a cancer on his face for many years. 
He heard of the cures Dr. Land had effected in Green- 
ville, and wrote me on the subject. I advised him to 
come up and see the doctor. He did so. After the first 
surgical operation he came to my office and laughed very 
heartily at the rude practice of his surgeon. He said Dr. 
Geddings would have been greatly amused if he could 
have peeped in and seen him in the hands of Land, who 
was an ignorant, illiterate man, and no doctor at all. 
His cancer was in some measure checked by Dr. Land, 
but not cured. 

Whilst editing the Southern Patriot, I spoke sarcasti- 
cally of the secessionists who were ahvays vaunting of 
their devotion and love for their mother State. I men- 
tioned that many of them w^ere not even born in South 
Carolina. I said that Chancellor Harper was born in 
one of the AVest India Islands, Col. William Preston in 
Philadelphia, Chancellor Dun kin in one of the northern 
States, and Col. R. B. Rhett at Smithville, in North 
Carolina, w^here his father lived for many years. Mr. 
Rhett, who took the Southern Patriot, and read it, as he 
told me, every week, replied to my remarks in one of the 
Charleston papers, and gave an account of his ancestors, 
who were all South Carolinians, and identified Avith the 



Robert Barnwell Rhett. 133 

history of the State from its earUest settlement. He hke- 
wise stated that he had never seen the sun rise except in 
Beaufort till he was ten or twelve years old. I regarded 
this statement as a contradiction of my assertion until, 
some years since my friend, Henry Farmer, Esq., of Flat 
Rock, N. C, told me he heard Mr. Rhett, tell a parcel 
of ladies, at his house, that he (Mr. Rhett) was a native 
of North Carolina. 

After Mr. Rhett's election as Attorney-General, he 
moved to Charleston, and he told me that he was greatly 
struck with the learning and superiority of the Charleston 
Bar. He said he regarded Mr. Petigru the greatest and 
most accomplished lawyer in the United States. I think 
Mr. Rhett was more of a politician than a lawyer. He 
certainly acquired more reputation as a member of Con- 
gress than he ever did at the Bar. I will not attempt to 
sketch his character as a statesman. He was first a mem- 
ber of the House of Representatives and then a United 
States Senator. He was a distinguished member of the 
Confederate conventions at Montgomery and Richmond. 
He w^as violently opposed to the administration of Presi- 
dent Davis, and was beaten for the Confederate Congress 
on that account. 

Mr. Rhett was a brilliant writer and an eloquent 
speaker, and ahvays bold, frank and manly in his writ- 
ings and speeches. I heard him in the State Convention 
denounce some of the leaders of his party for their 
affected love for the Federal Union. He defied any one 
of them to lay his hand on his heart and say that he 
loved the Union ! Old Colonel Warren, a revolutionary 
patriot, who had lost a leg in the war of Independence, 
jumped up on his crutches and said that he could, in 
truth and ^vith all sincerity lay his hand on his heart and 
say that " he loved this Union ! " But Mr. Rhett was al- 
ways a disunionist as well as a nullifier and secessionist 
and despised the Union from the bottom of his heart till 
the day of his death. 



Id4 Robert Barnwell Rhett. 

Whilst a member of the Legislature, I had so much 
confidence in Mr. Rhett's ability and patriotism, that I 
supported him for the United States Senate in preference 
to his opponents, who were of the same party, though 
not openly so violent in their politics. In the State 
Convention of 1852, Mr. Rhett came in and took a seat 
by the side of me. He said the resolutions I had offered, 
coming from an old Union man, really put to shame the 
feeble report of the committee of twenty-one, of which 
Judge Cheves was chairman. 

Mr. Rhett was a member of the celebrated Nashville 
Convention, and wrote one of the able addresses adopted 
by that convention. I heard my friend Henry C. Young, 
Esq., Avho stayed in the same room with Mr. Rhett, 
whilst attending the convention, say that this address 
was written on the spur of the occasion, and he was 
amazed at the rapidity with which Mr. Rhett wrote it. 
I had supposed it was carefully prepared at home and 
taken with him to the convention. 

It is said that Mr. Rhett devoted the latter part of his 
life to w^^iting a history of his own times, or rather a 
history of South Carolina. I hope, if he left such a 
Avork, that it will be published, and I am sure it will be 
a valuable contribution to the literature of the State. 

Mr. Rhett's family were all remarkably talented. His 
younger brother, Albert Rhett, was one of the most 
highly gifted young men I ever met. I served with him 
in the Legislature several years, and his speeches would 
have done credit to the United States Senate. He died 
early — cut off in the prime of his career, Avhich would 
have been, had he lived, a most brilliant one. His 
brother, James Rhett, was an old Union man, and we 
served together in several Union conventions. He was 
afterwards a member of the State Senate, and a gentle- 
man of learning and talents. I heard Mr. Petigru say 
that one of the sons of Mr. Barnwell Rhett, who was 
then reading law in his office, was the most highly gifted 
young man he had ever known. 



REVERDY JOHNSON. 

In 1846, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, pointed out to 
me, in the Senate Chamber, Reverdy Johnson, then a 
Senator from Maryland, as the first lawyer at the bar in 
the United States. He was so regarded by the Senate 
twenty years ago, and has ever since maintained his repu- 
tation as one of the first of American law}^ers. He is 
now a very old man, but his mind seems as clear and as 
strong as it ever was, and his speeches are as able as they 
were when he first took his seat in the United States 
Senate. He has opposed and exjjosed, with great ability, 
all the unconstitutional legislation of Congress for the 
last three years, and defended with equal ability and 
zeal the rights of the Southern States. Unfortunately 
he became alarmed, eighteen months ago, at the Re- 
publican threats of confiscation, and yielded his assent to 
the Reconstruction Military Bill. This surrender of Mr. 
Johnson, to the threats of the Republicans and his own 
fears, had a most baneful influence throughout the 
Southern States. It was ill-timed and most unfortunate. 
President Johnson was vetoing the bills, and writing his 
incomparable messages against them, whilst the Maryland 
Senator was voting for one of them, and urging its 
adoption by . the Southern people. This encouraged 
Governor Brown, of Georgia, and other politicians of 
his school, to break ground in favor of the adoption of 
these abominable measures. The people became apathetic 
and indifferent to the terrible dangers which threatened 
them. It seemed, at one time, that the spirit of the 
people was crushed out in the Southern States, and that 
they were disposed to submit to any wrong, usurpation 
or oppression oi^ the part of Congress. 



136 Re VERB Y Johnson. 

When I went to Washington after my election to the 
United States Senate, I requested Mr. Johnson to present 
my credentials to the Senate. He did so, and spoke of 
my having been a Union man. Sumner replied to him, 
and seemed well posted as to all my antecedents during 
the war. He mentioned that I had accepted office under 
the Confederate States, and was a judge under the Con- 
federacy at the close of the war. I suppose some rene- 
gade in Charleston, had furnished him with this informa- 
tion. Mr. Johnson seemed to regard it as a compliment 
that I had selected him to present my credentials to the 
Senate, and called to see me the next day. I met him in 
the Philadelphia Convention in 1866, and was with him 
on the sub-committee on resolutions and address to the 
people of the United States. The address had been pre- 
pared by Mr. Raymond, of the New York Times. A 
considerable portion of it in reference to the war, was 
stricken out on motion of Reverdy Johnson, as being 
offensive to the South. The address, as adopted, was a 
very admirable one, but the author, very soon, repu- 
diated the whole of it, and Avent back to the Republicans. 

Reverdy Johnson is a man of medium height and 
size, with a blemish in one eye, which disfiures him very 
much. His appearance is not striking or attractive. 
He is a native of Maryland, read law in Annapolis, has 
been Attorney-General of the United States, and several 
times elected to the United States Senate. He has re- 
cently been appointed Minister to England, and his 
nomination was confirmed by the Senate, notwith- 
standing his opposition to the impeachment of President 
Johnson. He will make an able representative of our 
government at the Court of St. James. I see it stated 
in the newspapers that Mrs. Lincoln is to accompany 
him to England, on a visit, as she says, to Queen 
Victoria. 



HENRY MIDDLETON. 

Governor Middleton was the eldest son of Arthur 
Middleton, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and a lineal descendant of Henry Middle- 
ton, president of the convention which threw off the 
proprietary government in South Carolina, and adopted, 
in its stead, the royal government of Great Britain. He 
was a small boy during the Revolutionary War, and 
accompanied his father whilst attending the American 
Congress in Philadelphia. In consequence of the dis- 
turbances of the Revolution, and his attendance on his 
father, he said his early education had been neglected. His 
son-in-law, Mr. Fisher, of Philadelphia, thinks by this 
that he did not, like his younger brother, have the advant- 
ages of a collegiate course in England. Mr. Fisher 
knows that he had a private tutor, and was thoroughly 
taught Latin, Greek, French and Italian. He traveled 
a great deal, whilst a young man, in Europe, and was 
in France for some time during the French Revolution. 

In the' fall of 1832, Governor Middleton was in 
Greenville with his family. He had formerly resided 
here before his mission to Russia, and had disposed of 
his house and farm to Washington Earle. Through my 
influence he was elected a member of the State Conven- 
tion from Greenville, together with myself. Colonel 
Brockmore and Felix R. Whitten, called in the fall of 
1832, to nullify the tariff laws of Congress. Before 
starting to the convention, and after we reached there, 
we were a good deal together, and I derived a great deal 
of valuable information from him, and was always de- 



138 Hknry Mibdletok. 

lighted, as well as edified, by his couversatious. In my 
journal, I have made memoranda of some of these con- 
versations. He amused me often with his anecdotes and 
sketches of public men. In one of these conversations 
he told me that he then had in his possession a manu- 
script of his father, which contained a speech of Mr. 
Madison, taken down in shorthand, advocating a treaty 
^vith. Great Britain, on the condition that she would ac- 
knowledge the independence of all the colonies north of 
the Carolinas. The Carolinas and Georgia were to remain 
British provinces. The resolution embodying this 
proposition was introduced in the old Congress by Mr. 
Madison himself. Many years afterwards, whilst Gov- 
ernor Middleton was a member of Congress, he men- 
tioned the subject of this speech to Mr. Madison, and 
expressed his great surprise at it. Mr. Madison ac- 
knowledged having introduced the resolution and made 
the speech. He justified himself on the ground that the 
Carolinas and Georgia were at that time conquered pro- 
vinces, the country was overrun Avith British troops, and 
the royal government restored. These colonies were 
considered entirely lost after Gates's defeat at Camden, 
and all reasonable hope of recovering them was gone 
forever. An address had been presented to Lord Corn- 
Avallis, signed by many of the most prominent citizens 
of Charleston, congratulating him on his victory and the 
final subjugation of the provinces. I do not remember 
to have seen this remarkable fact mentioned in the his- 
tory of our country. The address to Lord Cornwallis I 
had heard of many years before, but not the speech and 
resolution of Mr. Madison. Congress sat, at that time, 
with closed doors, and their secret proceedings were not 
known to the country. 

Governor Middleton told me a great deal about soci- 
ety in Europe and the etiquette of their courts. In 
speaking of the aristocracy of England, he said there 
was no country in the world where the classes were 
kept more distinct than they were in Great Britain. 



Henry MiDDLETOif. 139 

There was no association whatever between the higher 
and lower classes in society. In this connection he 
mentioned several anecdotes of James Barbour, whilst 
American Minister at the Court of St. James. He had 
greatly shocked the pride of the nobility by accepting 
an invitation from Arkwright, a famous wealthy artist 
in London, who had been employed professionally in 
his family. He disgusted them, too, very much, by 
going to the bar-room and calling for a mint julep. In 
his first interview with Lord Aberdeen, Governor Bar- 
bour was informed that it was not polite to address him 
as "sir," but to say "my lord,'' or simply "yes" and 
"no." He soon forgot his instructions, and in every 
sentence he used the forbidden word, "sir," greatly to 
the annoyance of his lordship. James and Philij) Bar- 
bour, said Governor Middleton, were brothers and sons 
of a poor sheriff of one of the counties of Virginia. 
They deserved great credit for their success in life. 
Whilst their father was sheriff they were his deputies. 
James was self-educated, and assisted in the education of 
Philip. He was a vain man, and sometimes abused the 
king's English in his speeches, which always read better 
than they were when delivered. The corrections were 
made by the reporters. Philip was a clever man, but an 
unpleasant speaker. He was a good lawyer, and de- 
lighted in telling of his success at the bar. The brothers 
were both members of Congress under the administration 
of John Q. Adams, but of different politics. James said 
to Philip, one day, that he, Phil, had a happy knack of 
always snuffing the popular breeze at a long distance, 
and was never caught in a minority. Philip was a 
Jackson man, and James sustained the administration of 
Adams. 

On my return from a visit to Washington, I heard Sena- 
tor Himter, of Virginia, tell of a speech James Barbour 
once made, whilst a candidate for the Legislature, after 
his return from Europe. He was opposed by a Jackson 
Democrat, whose name was Jack Davis. The canvass 



140 Henry Middleton. 

waxed warm, and Barbour took the stump. He saw 
that he was Kkely to be beaten^ and told the people that 
he had come to a pretty pass. After being a member of 
Congress, United States Senator, Governor of the Com- 
monwealth, and minister to the first court in Europe, I 
am now a candidate for a seat in the Legislature of 
Virginia, and am opposed by Jack Davis, whose highest 
recommendation is that he can drink more liquor and 
play a better fiddle than any man in the county ! The 
result of the election proved that Jack Avas a more popu- 
lar man before the people than the ex-governor, senator 
and ambassador ! 

When about to leave St. Petersburg, Mr. Middleton 
told me he proposed selling to his successor, Mr. Ran- 
dolph, of Roanoke, his fine coach and four beautiful 
horses. Randolph replied, with indignation, "I am no 
Southern nabob, and will not sport such an equipage !" 
He rode in a plain carriage, and drove only two horses, 
a style adopted by shopkee23ers and tradesmen alone in 
St. Petersburg. On his return to the United States, 
Governor Middleton met him driving a coach and four 
blooded horses ! In Virginia, Randolph was disposed to 
play the nabob and aristocrat ! But in Russia he pre- 
ferred acting plebeian and democrat ! Such was his re- 
markable eccentricity of character. 

Governor Middleton told me that he was personally 
acquainted with almost every distinguished man in 
Europe. He saw Bonaparte in every station which he 
had filled, from that of General of the Interior to his 
seat on the throne of France. He was on terms of inti- 
macy with him whilst he was General of the Interior, 
and was in the habit of visiting his family. At one 
period of their acquaintance he received encouragement 
to address his step-daughter. " Little did I then think," 
said Governor Middleton, "that she would ever be a 
queen." She was a clever girl, but afterwai'ds seduced 
by Napoleon, and married to his brother ! Josephine 
was the mistress of Barras, and given to Napoleon by 



Henry Middleton. 141 

that corrupt minister, with a dowry ! These facts are 
indisputable/' This statement is the very language of 
Governor Middleton. I had heard these slanders all my ^ 
life, but I never gave them any credence. Governor 
Middleton, however, spoke of them as not being sus- 
ceptible of a doubt ! 

In speaking further of Randolph, he said that he 
acted strangely in Russia in every way. He would not 
visit or receive visits from any one. On all occasions 
his servants were instructed to say that he was not at 
home ! Governor Middleton said Randolph was a most 
pleasant fellow and fine company, but possessed eccen- 
tricity bordering on derangement. In his appearance he 
looke very much like an Indian. Governor Middleton 
says that Jefferson gave him letters when he went to 
Europe, and that he was strongly attached to him 
throughout his life. Their acquaintance commenced 
when the governor was quite a young man, and they 
corresponded ever afterwards. But the publication of 
Jefferson's works, after his death, satisfied Governor 
Middleton that he was not sincere in his professions, but ^ 
a hollow-hearted man ! 

In Paris Governor Middleton became acquainted 
with Elbridge Gerry, then Minister to France, with 
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Chief Justice Marshall. 
They were not recognized as ministers. It was intimated 
to them by a lady authorized by Talleyrand, that if they 
would give presents they might be received. " I carried 
this lady to see my uncle, General Pinckney," said Gov- 
ernor Middleton, "Avhen she made the communication." 
This gave rise to Pinckney's famous expression, "Mil- 
lions for defence, but not a cent for tribute." Talley- 
rand afterwards denied that the lady was sent by him, 
or authorized to make the offer. Gerry told who the 
lady was, and she Avas arrested and imprisoned for some 
time. The governor said he had seen this lady long 
afterwards, and they talked over the whole circumstancr. 



142 Henry Middleton. 

Governor Middleton was a man of ordinary height, 
erect in his carriage and neat in his dress. He was a 
man of great information, and wrote and conversed well. 
He did not attempt to speak in any of onr union con- 
ventions or caucuses. Whi^t in Greenville he wrote Aj 
several political articles for my paper. He took an 
active part in the Legislature of South Carolina, when a 
very young man, in favor of general suffrage, and was 
told by his colleagues that he would be defeated at the 
next election in Charleston. But, instead of being de- 
feated, he was elected the head of the ticket. He was 
then elected Governor of the State, and afterwards sent 
as Minister to Russia. After an absence of more than 
twenty years, he returned to the United States, being 
recalled by General Jackson. When he went to call on 
the president, Jackson expressed great pleasure at seeing 
him, and Governor Middleton replied to him, " I am 
indebted to your excellency for the pleasure it gives you.'' 
He found his native State in the midst of what he re- 
garded a revolution ; and he took an active part in try- 
ing to stop the revolution and preserve the Union. He 
told me that his sons were going astray when he re- 
turned to South Carolina, but that he had stopped them 
in their folly. 



JAMES HAMILTON, JR. 

Governor Hamilton was the gallant leader of the 
nullification party in South Carolina. He originated 
the nullification clubs^ which were established in every 
district of the State, and which carried the elections, that 
fall, in two-thirds of the election districts. Mr. Cal- 
houn was the author of nullification in South Carolina, 
but Governor Hamilton made it a success throughout 
the State. But for him it would have fallen still-born, 
or been crushed in its swaddling clothes. In early life 
he had been the efficient advocate of strong national 
powers in the Federal government, the open and public 
reviler of the Virginia doctrine of States' Rights, and 
the eulogist of McDuffie, " one of the people.^' Instead 
of trying to defend his political consistency, like most 
politicians, he came out and declared in a publication 
which he made, that he had been under "a natural de- 
lusion; a mental hallucination in his opposition to 
States' Rights ; that, having seen the errors of his way, 
he had abandoned them, and sought forgiveness for his 
grievous political sins in former years." St. Paul, after 
his conversion to Christianity, was not more penitent, or 
energetic in propagating the doctrines which he had per- 
secuted with fire and sword. Governor Hamilton was 
regarded as the soul of honor and embodiment of chiv- 
alry in South Carolina. He was sent by the Republic 
of Texas as ambassador to Europe, and whilst there, he 
made use of the funds which had been entrusted to him 
by some company in Virginia, for the benefit of the 
Texan Republic, expecting most confidently to be placed 
in funds by the government of Texas, in time to refund 



144 James Hamilton, Je. 

those of tlie Virginia company. In this, there was a 
faikire, and the transaction cast a cloud over his bright 
fame for a time. He became embarrassed, too, in his 
pecuniary affairs, and was greatly harassed and annoyed 
by his creditors. His speculations were bold and 
reckless. 

Governor Hamilton was for several years a leading 
member of the South Carolina Legislature, afterwards a 
prominent member of Congress from Beaufort, and then 
he was elected Governor of the State. After his term of 
office had expired, and nullification, with all its political 
excitement, had died a natural death, he went to Texas 
and commenced his magnificent speculations in lands, etc. 
He was a member of the State Convention at the same 
time he was Governor of the State, and was elected 
President of the Convention. His venerable father was 
also a member of the Convention. He had been an ac- 
tive and gallant officer of the regular army in the 
American Revolution. The father and son came into 
the Convention together, the former leaning on the arm 
of the latter, and presented an interesting spectacle. 
Governor Hamilton had been an officer of the United 
States army in the war with Great Britain, and rose to 
the rank of major. This military title stuck to the 
governor all the time he was in Congress, and until he 
was elected brigadier-general of the nullification army. 
He was Governor of the State when he was elected 
brigadier-general, but in order to be eligible to the office, 
he had first to be elected ensign in one of the militia 
companies in Charleston. It gave great offence to the 
Union officers to have an ensign elected over their heads 
to the command of the brigade. The fact that this en- 
sign was Governor of the State did not appease their 
wrath. Judge Huger told me that Colonel B. F. Hunt 
would challenge Hamilton ; that he was bound to do so 
according to military etiquette. Whenever an officer 
has been oversloughed, said the judge, he must fight or 
he is disgraced. But Colonel Hunt did not regard his 



Jame8 Hamilton, Jr. J-jT) 

military honor so deeply wounded as to make it neces- 
sary to call out the Governor. 

In the beginning of the nullification controversy, 
Hamilton addressed a letter to Mr. Calhoun, who was 
then Vice-President of the United States, with a view of 
giving him an opportunity of coming out with an ex- 
pose of the doctrine of nullification. Mr. Calhoun 
availed himself of the opjjortunity thus afforded by Gov- 
ernor Hamilton's letter, and published a long communi- 
cation explaining to the people the constitutionality of 
nullification and its operations in being carried out. 
This document gave the initiated a reason for the faith 
that was m them. It was said that nullification was a 
peaceable remedy, and an appeal must be made to the 
courts to test the constitutionality of the tariff. In order 
to do this. Governor Hamilton made an importation of 
sugar, and declared, in a public speech, that he knew 
every true nullifier in the State would go with him to 
the death for his sugar. This expression gave the 
Governor, with the Union men, the sobriquet of " Sugar 
Jimmy." When his sugar arrived, instead of depositing 
it in the Custom House, President Jackson ordered it to 
be placed in Castle Pinckney, and there kept till the 
duties Avere paid. This was a great disappointment to 
the nullifiers, for they could not so well get at it in 
Castle Pinckney. After waiting awhile, the Governor 
went and paid the duties, and took his sugar. A case 
had been made up in court, to test the constitutionality of 
the tariff, and General McDuffie went to Charleston to 
argue it ; but they could not get the question before the 
jury, and the case proved a failure. 

Governor Hamilton was very much dissatisfied with 
the course Georgia pursued in our nullification struggle. 
He confidently expected that she would unite with South 
Carolina, and sustain her in the movement. When the 
State Convention adjourned, I remember. Governor 
Hamilton made some disparaging remarks in reference 
to Georgia. 



146 James Hamilton, Jr. 

Twenty years afterwards, wlieu our secession contro- 
versy sprung up, General Hamilton was not in South 
Carolina, but it was expected, as a matter of course, that 
he would favor it with great zeal and ability. How 
sadly were his friends disappointed when he came out 
with a letter deprecating, in toto, the whole movement, 
as uncalled for, and revolutionary in its character. This 
opened the press of the State on him, and he was de- 
nounced everywhere as a renegade. I met him after- 
wards in Washington City, and spent several wrecks 
with him there, in the same hotel. We talked over the 
politics of South Carolina, and the Governor remarked, 
that no two men in the State had been so well abused as 
ourselves. He said, not only his friends abandoned him, 
but he thought his own sons were going to prove want- 
ing in filial respect and feeling. The truth was, his 
letter and his course on the subject of secession were 
marked by wisdom and patriotism. The State after- 
wards adopted his advice, and acquiesced in her griev- 
ances, so-called. I had started the Southern Patriot at 
the commencement of the struggle, and fought boldly 
against secession. This was the first check it received in 
South Carolina, and Judge Evans once said to me, in 
Washington, but for this opposition, secession would 
have gone by default in the State. When General 
Hamilton's letter made its appearance, the secessionists 
said that if it had been written by myself, they would 
not have thought strange of it, but coming, as it did, 
from their leader in the days of nullification, it was too 
bad. 

Shortly after secession had broke forth, and I had 
started the Patriot, the co-operation party sprung up in 
South Carolina, which was a Union party in disguise, 
and secession was postponed for ten years, only to be 
more widespread and horrible in its denouement. If I 
had let it go by default in 1850, as Judge Evans said, 
it would have been crushed out by President Fillmore in 
a short time, and perha])s \\ithout bloodshed. Instead 



James PIamilton, Jr. 147 

of makiug war against the State, his plan was to cut oft' 
the mails, and move the Custom on board of a vessel in 
the harbor of Charleston. 

Whilst Governor Hamilton and myself were at 
Gadsby's Hotel in Washington, he went several times to 
see the Misses Foxes, who were spiritualists and spirit 
rappers. He told me, with tears in his eyes, that they 
had called up the spirit of his deceased son, and he had 
received communications from him, which no one but 
himself could have made. We went one evening to tht; 
room of Senator Talmedge, of New York, who was a 
writing medium, and he told us of communications he 
had with the spirit of Calhoun, which were very re- 
markable. He asked Calhoun if he still thought nulli- 
fication right and constitutional, and he replied that he 
did. Hamilton remarked, " I am glad he sticks to his 
principles in the other world. ^' 

Governor Hamilton was a small man, quite handsome 
and prepossessing in his appearance. He was a lawyer, 
and was a pleasant and graceful speaker. He wrote 
well, and at times admirably Avell. He was warm- 
hearted and devoted to his friends, and kind and affection- 
ate in all the relations of life. General Hamilton's death 
was a sad one. He was drowned at sea, going from 
New Orleans to Texas. 



DAVID JOHNSON. 

This pure, upright, and noble hearted gentleman filled, 
with distinction, many public offices in South Carolina. 
Just after his admission to the bar, he Avas elected a mem- 
ber of the Legislature, then Solicitor, Circuit Judge, Ap- 
peal Judge, Chancellor, and Governor of the State. He 
was, I think, born in Virginia, but his parents moved, 
whilst he was an infant, to Union District, South Car- 
olina, where he lived during his w^hole life, and died in a 
good old age, full of honors and distinction. He read 
law with Judge Nott, and afterwards the preceptor and 
student were selected, from all our judges, on the re-or- 
ganization of the courts, to fill seats on the appeal bench 
with Judge Colcock. My acquaintance with Judge 
Johnson commenced with my admission to the bar, and 
his signature is to my commission as an attorney-at-law^ 
and in equity. During the days of nullification, being 
both Union men, we were thrown together very often in 
our conventions, caucuses and consultations. I was a 
good deal in his company afterwards, up to the expira- 
tion of his gubernatorial term. He told me a great many 
incidents of his life and early history. 

When he became a candidate for the Legislature, he 
was a very young man, and not much known in his dis- 
trict to the great mass of voters. In those days, there 
was but one box in the whole district, and all voted at 
the Court House. He was returning to the village of 
Union on the morning of the election, having been out 
canvassing the district, when he fell in company with one 
or two hundred voters, all on horseback, riding in mili- 
tary order to the Court House, for tlie purpose of de]^osit- 



David Johnson. 149 

ing their votes. He rode up by the side of the (captain 
of the company, who told him that they had made up 
their ticket, and his name was not on it. This was rather 
cold comfort, and Johnson knew it would be decisive of 
the election. He, however, bore it calmly, and continued 
his conversation for some miles with the captain. Just 
before reaching the village, they called a halt for the pur- 
pose of taking a drink, most of them having a chunk 
bottle of whisky in their overcoat pockets. After a little 
chat, all being in good humor, the captain proposed that 
they should change their ticket, strike off the name of one 
candidate, and put that of Johnson in its place. The 
motion was carried and the change made. This secured 
his election, and but for this lucky accident, he would 
have been defeated. He was elected solicitor of his cir- 
cuit during^ this Lep^islative term. 

Whilst he was solicitor there was a vacancy on the 
bench, and Col. Joseph Gist was a candidate to fill the 
vacancy, with every prospect of being elected. Johnson 
had taken a very active part for him, and was very de- 
sirous of getting him out of his way as a practicing law- 
yer. Col. Gist was an old lawyer, and had a very ex- 
tensive and lucrative practice in Johnson's circuit. The 
night before the election of judge by the Legislature, 
Col. Gist came to Johnson^s room in Columbia, and told 
him that he had declined being a candidate for judge. 
This Johnson protested against most vehemently, and 
said it would not be permitted. There could be no doubt 
of his election, and his friends were very anxious to see 
him on the bench. Gist was, at that time, a leading 
member of the Legislature from the upper country, and 
very popular. But he said to Johnson his unalterable 
determination was made, and that he would not be a can- 
didate, or accept the office if elected. Johnson said to 
him, your friends will be greatly disappointed, for there 
is no other lawyer in the upper country on whom they 
will concentrate their votes. Gist said to him, you are 
mi.staken, they will all vote for you. Johnson was thun- 



150 David Johnson. 

derstruck at this announcement, and laughed at the in- 
credible idea of his being elecited a judge, for such an 
aspiration had never crossed his mind. He was a very 
young man, had not had an extensive practice at the bar, 
and ^vas delighted with the office of solicitor. But Gist 
put him in nomination the next morning and had him 
elected on the first ballot. So much astonished was 
Johnson, when they brought him the new^s of his election, 
that he could not resist rising from his seat, buttoning up 
his coat and saying, "Judge Johnson." 

When the old constitutional court was abolished, and 
the appeal court in law and equity established, with three 
judges, Nott, Johnson and Colcock were elected appeal 
judges, as I have already stated. DeSaussure and 
Thompson were elected chancellors, and the other equity 
judges, Waties, James and Gailliard, together with the 
laAV judges, Gantt, Richardson and Huger, were placed 
on circuit duty. For ten or twelve years, Judge Johnson 
remained in the Appeal Court, and until it Avas abolished. 
The decision of that court, then composed of Johnson, 
O'Neall and Harper, on the test oath, and against its con- 
stitutionality, was its death warrant. All the judges in 
law and equity were then required to meet in one court 
after their circuits were over, and hear appeals, both in 
law and equity. This mob court, as it was called, did 
not last long. Separate coiui:s were established as for- 
merly, for hearing appeals in law and equity, and Judge 
Johnson was elected one of the Chancellors. From the 
chancery bench, in his old age, he was elected Governor 
of the State. The act of the Legislature requiring the 
Governor to review the Avhole militia of the State during 
his term of office, Avas not complied AAdth, by his Excel- 
lency Governor Johnson, in consequence of his age and 
inability to ride on horseback. This Avas a pageant pro- 
ductive of no good, except it afforded the people an op- 
portunity of seeing the Governor, and hearing him ad- 
dress the regiments on the militia system and the politics 
of the country. GoA'^ernor Johnson AA^as a A^ery large 



David Johnson. 151 

man, aud I should suppose rather a chuusy rider iu his 
prime. 

Judge Johnson made it a rule never to stay at a law- 
yer's house whilst on the circuit. He said parties in 
court would always have a suspicion of partiality where 
the presiding judge was entertained by a member of the 
bar. There never was any one who passed through a 
long life with less suspicion on his fairness, integrity and 
uprightness than Governor Johnson. And he had learn- 
ing and talents, as I once heard Col. Ben. F. Hunt say 
in the Legislature, to fill, with great ability, any and 
every position in which his State saw proper to place 
him. 

A gentleman once told me that Judge Johnson, in his 
confidential intercourse with him, said in early life he 
was desperately iu love with a young lady who rejected 
his addresses, being then poor and obscure. She after- 
wards married a man who did not have the prosperity 
and success which attended his career through life, but 
that he always felt a deep interest in her situation, even 
in his old age, as his first love. Whilst he was a circuit 
judge, there was a case for trial before him, in w^hich a 
brother-in-law was a party. The judge said to one of 
the lawyers concerned, that he would not try the case, for 
he had such a bad opinion of his brother-in-law, that he 
was afraid he could not do him justice. 

There were few men in South Carolina who had more 
personal friends than Governor Johnson, at every period 
of his life. He had no enemies. All respected him, 
even in the times of highest political excitement. I re- 
member hearing Col. David J. McCord, the fiercest and 
bitterest of nullifiers, express this opinion, whilst he was 
denouncing, in the Legislature, in terms of great bitter- 
ness, the leading members of the Union party. Judge 
Johnson was so amiable, so free from all malevolence, 
and so frank and respectful towards his opponents, that 
none could dislike him. When he was elected an appeal 
judge, and had to hear cases from Chancery, he said to 



l'")2 David Johnson. 

Chancellor Thompson, that he had never liad any 
Chancery practice, and wonld have to commence its 
study. With great simplicity he inquired of the Chan- 
cellor how long he supposed it would take him to become 
familiar Avitli the great principles of equity jurisprudence. 
The Chancellor who loved to be sarcastic and witty, re- 
plied that if his mind was as huge as his body, he could 
do so in a very short time. The opinions of the court of 
three, as reported in Bailey and Hill, will show that 
Judge Johnson did become familiar with the principles 
and practice of equity, and his decrees after he be- 
came Chancellor, were able, learned and well considered. 



JAMES H, ADAMS. 

Governor Adams and myself became acquainted with 
each other as members of the Legislature when we were 
both young men. We were the antipodes of each other 
in politics, and continued so throughout our after lives. 
He was a Whig and I was a Democrat. He believed 
nullification the rightful remedy for all unconstitutional 
legislation on the part of Congress. I did not acknowl- 
edge the right of a State to veto acts of Congress, and 
believed the Supreme Court of the United States the 
proper tribunal to try the constitutionality of all legisla- 
tion. He believed in the constitutional right of a State 
to secede from the Federal compact. I denied the con- 
stitutional right of a State to break up the government 
when she pleased, but admitted the right of revolution 
when a Government became intolerably oppressive. Gov. 
Adams was in favor of opening the African slave trade. 
I regarded such a step disgraceful to our national char- 
acter, and nefarious in a moral point of view, as well as 
being unwise and against the true interests of the South- 
ern States. But notwithstanding this difference in poli- 
tics (toto ccelo), we became warm, cordial and intimate 
friends personally, and remained so up to his lamented 
death. Every spring, for a number of years, during my 
attendance on the Court of Appeals, I was in the habit 
of visiting his handsome residence, fourteen or fifteen 
miles below Columbia, with a party of gentlemen, and 
spending three or four days most pleasantly with him, 
his charming wife and lovely daughters. We always 
had a fine time, and enjoyed ourselves most delightfully. 
His entertainment was elegant, and his hospitality un- 



154 James H. Adams. 

bounded. We were amused^ one morning in May, in 
having sent up to us, before we were dressed, a magnifi- 
cent bowl of mint julep, well iced. Whilst sipping it. 
Judge Aldrich remarked : " What a glorious Avife Adams 
has ! I once asked my Avife to make me a brandy toddy, 
and she coolly replied, that if I waited till she made one, 
I would have to wait a long time ! " 

Governor Adams lost both of his parents whilst he was 
an infant, and his old grandfather took him and brought 
him up. This old gentleman had moved to South Car- 
olina in the early settlement of the up country, from 
Virginia, and amassed a very large fortune. He could 
only write his name and nothing more, but he gave all 
his sons and grandsons a collegiate education. The Gov. 
was sent to Yale College, where lie graduated. John C. 
Calhoun was a graduate of the same institution, and a 
great many Southern young men were sent there to be 
educated in those days. After graduating. Gov. Adams 
got married, and devoted himself to the management of 
his large planting interest in Richland District. He 
never studied any profession, but soon became engaged 
in politics. For many years he represented Richland 
District in both Houses of the Legislature, and his oppo- 
sition was always very strong and powerful. Money was 
spent most freely on both sides. In one of his elections 
for the Senate, it is said that the price of a sand hill vote 
was as high as fifty dollars. I remember meeting Col. 
William C. Pres^att in the cars once on his return from 
Virginia, Avho jestingly said he Avas hurrying back to 
the election in Columbia, for he understood that a \^ote 
Avas worth fifty dollars ! In one of the Governor's con- 
tests for the Senate, he came to Greenville during the 
summer, and I inquired hoAV he could possibly leave 
home during the cauA^ass. He said nothing but a mira- 
cle could defeat his election. But he Avas defeated by a 
few votes. When I met him that fall in Columbia, I 
said to him the " miracle '' had happened. He replied, 
yes; that lie had spent ten thousand dollars on the elec- 



James H. Adams. 155 

tioii, Jiud his o})poiient fifty thousand; that he saw it 
would break him if he continued the contest, and gave 
it up. 

Just before these elections in Richland, both sides kept 
what was called "pens/' where those who were willing 
to sell their votes, were housed two or three days before 
the election and marched to the polls when opened. They 
were not to be trusted after bartering their suffrage. The 
Governor told me an amusing anecdote in connection 
with this last canvass of his. He said a friend came to 
him one day in Columbia and told him there was a sand- 
hill voter in town, and he thought he might be secured, 
although he had already sold his vote to the opposite 
party. The Governor hunted him up, and began to talk 
about the election. The descrij^tion of the fellow's per- 
sonal appearance was most ludicrous indeed. He had on 
his head an old straw hat, which looked as if half of it 
had been eaten up by the cows. He was a long, pale- 
faced, gangling sand-lapper, with a calico hunting- 
shirt in tatters, barefooted, and a ragged pair of panta- 
loons, which came only half-way between his knees and 
ankles. The fellow told the Governor that he was paid 
by the other party, but seemed willing to sell his vote 
again. The Governor asked him how much he would 
take to go down to Gadsden and stay till the election 
came on. He replied, fifty dollars. The Governor said 
it was too much, and proposed giving him ten dollars, 
which would be a clever compensation for two or three 
days' services. " But you must remember, General," said 
the blackguard, " that my honor is involved in this mat- 
ter, and I ought to have something extra for that ! " The 
Governor said he was so much amused at such a fellow, 
on the eve of selling his vote the second time, talking of 
his wounded honor, and demanding an additional price 
on that account, that he burst into a hearty laugh, and 
turned off. 

Governor Adams, after his defeat for the State Senate, 
was elected Cliief Magistrate of the State, and came 



156 James H. Ada?.ts 

very near being elected United States Senator at the ex- 
piration of his gubernatorial term of office. He was a 
member of the State Convention which seceded from the 
Union, and appointed with Barnwell and Orr to go to 
Washington and negotiate with President Buchanan as to 
his giving up the forts in Charleston, on the United 
States being compensated for them. Soon afterwards 
his health became very bad, and he did not live to wit- 
ness the misfortune, degradation and ruin of his beloved 
State. 

Governor Adams was the finest looking horseman in 
saddle, when in full uniform, that I ever saw, and the 
best rider. He was a gentleman thoroughly educated, 
and possessed a highly cultivated mind. He spoke well 
and wrote well. He was a most cordial, warm-hearted 
and devoted friend. Some time before his death, he be- 
came a member and communicant of the Episcopal 
Church. I remember this information was given me, at 
the time, by his son-in-law, Mr. Brooks, and I wrote in 
reply, expressing my gratification, saying, "he was now 
prepared to live or die.^' He died a Christian, and had 
lived a noble-hearted gentleman. 

Governor Adams paid a visit to Europe in the latter 
part of his life, and spent some time in England. He 
was very much pleased with the country and society 
there. He said to me, that there was a feeling of loyalty, 
fidelity and respect shown by the laboring classes in Eng- 
land to the gentry and property-holders, which we did 
not meet with anywhere in the United States. In other 
words, said he, "there is no envy, jealousy or prejudice 
against a man because he is a gentleman and wears a 
broadcloth coat." This is, no doubt, true, but it is owing 
to the dependence of the laboring class on the property- 
holders and the cheapness of labor. In this country, 
every one is independent, and knows that his honest labor 
will support himself and family. He therefore feels more 
secure in resenting any supercilious assumption or disre- 
spect on the part of the broadclotli. 



James H. Adams. 157 

In January, 1854, Governor Adams sent me for pub- 
lication a very long article against giving the election of 
President and Vice-President to the people. In his let- 
ter he says : " I am very sorry I diifer from you on this 
question, for I have no doubt yours is the strong and 
popular side, and mine weak and unpopular. I some- 
times think I am destined to live and die in a minority. 
I wish I had the happy instincts of two of my brother 
Senators, whom I will not mention, but leave you to con- 
jecture. ******]; ajj-^ ygpy much 
obliged to you for your complimentary notice of me. It 
is more than I really deserve, although Mrs. Adams 
thinks it all true and just ; and after reading it, wondered 
why it was so many persons speak harshly of Colonel 
Perry. I said to her, take care, when the Colonel re- 
plies to me on the electoral question, you don't sing a 
different tune. In one thing you have done me justice. 
I have never allowed political differences to interfere with 
my personal feelings. I sincerely hope this electoral 
question will not in the least disturb our relations, for I 
assure you, decide it as you may, in itself it is a matter 
of no great consequence whether the Legislature or the 
people make the electors. A Baltimore or Philadelphia 
Convention makes the President. 

December 26th, 1854, Governor Adams wrote me as 
follows: "Yesterday's mail brought me The Southern 
Patriot. I can't say that I looked for your notice of my 
inaugural with fear and trembling, but I did so with 
some anxiety. I rose from its perusal with my feelings 
(if that were possible) of regard and attachment for you 
strengthened ; and I cannot suifer the occasion to pass 
without reciprocating the kind feelings you have ex- 
pressed for me. I am sure no political issue can ever 
arise that will shake my confidence or lessen my esteem 
for you. It would have been a source of great gratifi- 
cation if we could have thought alike politically, but as 
that has not always been the case, we must hope that 
time may narrow the gap between us, and in the mean 



lo8 James H. Adams. 

time coutiuue to be friends. I have one cousolatiou iu 
the retrospect of my pubHc Hfe : I never deserted a friend, 
and never intentionally deceived an opponent. * * * 
There is one subject of public policy, about which I am 
sm^e we do not differ, and that is popular education. In 
this matter I acknowledge myself behind no one. I am 
ready and willing to pay double my present taxes, to 
carry out any scheme which may be matured for enlight- 
ening the ignorant poor. I shall be glad to hear your 
views, at your leisure, on this subject. I shall have, if I 
live, to bring the matter before the Legislature. Do aid 
me with your reflections and suggestions in relation to 
our free school system. The system needs improvement, 
but how, is the difficulty.'' 

He wrote me in June following, and said : " I have no 
fears that you will forget your promise to give me your 
views on our free school system. I write now to make 
an additional request of you, and I hope you will have 
time to give me the benefit of your experience and inves- 
tigation on the subject. I design to bring before the 
Legislature in my message the subject of a revision t)f the 
statute la^vs of the State. I have seen the revised code 
of North Carolina, and think we need something of the 
kind in our State. Our statutes at large, it strikes me, 
do not answer the end designed. At present, it takes a 
lawyer of large practice ancl study to tell what is law in 
South Carolina; Avhereas, it seems to me, that the Acts 
of Assembly which are of force should be so arranged 
and indexed that any citizen of education and sense 
could readily turn to them and decide for himself his 
rights, duties and responsibilities under the laws of the 
land. Will you, at your leisure, do me the kindness to 
give me your views as to the necessity and value of such 
a work ? If you approve of the design, will you suggest 
the details of a plan for carrying it out? While a ma- 
jority of the Legislature might be in favor of the thing 
generally, I am satisfied, unless a practical plan is sub- 
mitted, nothing will be done." 



JOHN H. MEANS. 

I met Governor Means, the first time I ever had the 
pleasnre of making his acquaintance, at the wedding of 
his cousin, Robert Means, who married the daughter of 
Chancellor Thompson. The Governor was then a stu- 
dent in the South Carolina College, and quite stout. He 
became more so in after life. I frequently met him in 
Columbia afterwards, but made no intimate acquaintance 
Avith him till about the time he was elected governor. 
He was a few years my junior, and was elected whilst a 
very young man. He had been a brigadier-general of 
cavalry, but had not been much in political life. His 
talents, high-toned character, and kind, cordial manner, 
made him a great favorite with the younger members of 
the Legislature, and respected by all who knew him. 

The ancestors of the Means family in Fairfield, South 
Carolina, which was a very numerous and highly es- 
teemed and respectable one, came from Massachusetts, 
and were of Irish descent. They were connected with 
the Appletons and other wealthy families of Boston. 
Whilst walking with Robert Means, of Alabama, the 
cousin of the governor, in the streets of Boston, he 
pointed to an old cemetery, in the midst of the city, near 
the Tremont House, and told me that some of his ances- 
tors lay buried in the inclosure. He also called at the 
house of Mr. Appleton, and left his card, saying that on 
a former visit to the city, he had been kindly received by 
the family as a kinsman, and most hospitably entertained. 

I have never met in life a nobler gentleman than 
Governor Means. He was the soul of honor, generous, 
magnanimous, and cordial in his friendship. His soul 



160 John H. Means. 

and heart were in unison with the size of his large and 
manly person. I shall never forget the deep interest 
and painful anxiety which he once manifested to settle a 
difficulty between tAVO of his most intimate friends. Col. 
Preston Brooks and Mr. English, then a member of the 
Legislature from Richland or Fairfield. English and 
Brooks were brothers-in-law, and had both married 
nieces of the governor. In a moment of passion and 
impulse, a very serious difficult}^ had occurred between 
those two gentlemen. Late in the evening. Governor 
Means, in company with Mr. English, called at my room 
in Columbia, to consult with me on a point of honor, in 
the adjustment of the difficulty. Mr. English was un- 
certain as to the propriety of the course suggested by 
Governor Means. The governor stated to me in the 
presence of Mr. English, that both these gentlemen were 
his dear friends, and he had the highest opinion of their 
honor and courage. It was distressing and heart-rending 
to him, to see them in their present attitude towards each 
other. He asked me if it Avas not proper and honorable 
when a gentleman, on the impulse of the moment, had 
done an imprudent act, to make the amende honorable 
by saying so to the party aggrieved. I replied that it 
was not only proper and honorable, but magnanimous ; 
and that, according to the rules of chivalry, he was bound 
to do so, especially where the parties had been friends 
and knew each other's honor and spirit. The difficulty 
was ultimately referred to Colonel Wade Hampton, Sr., 
and myself, and adjusted. 

Governor Means was a most intense secessionist, and 
whilst Governor of the State he took great pains in re- 
vicAving the militia, all o\^er the State, to make Avar 
speeches, and urge the Avisdom and constitutionality of 
separate State secession. He took great pleasure in tell- 
ing me, at a ball given him in Greenville, that he had 
been all through the State, from seaboard to the moun- 
tains, and from the great Pedee to the SaA'-annah River, 
and he assured me that the people cA^erywhere were 



John H. Means. 161 

almost unanimous for seceding from the Federal Union. 
He further said that the election then pending for mem- 
bers to a Southern Convention of the States would show 
conclusively what the public sentiment of South Carolina 
was. I good humoredly replied to him, that I agreed 
with his excellency, in thinking that the pending election 
of delegates would determine what public opinion was on 
the subject of secession, but that I was as equally confi- 
dent as he was, that he had misunderstood and been de- 
ceived as to the popular feeling of the great masses 
throughout the State. I said the time had not then 
come for the revolutionary ball to be set in motion, ex- 
cept through a convention of the Southern States. The 
people of South Carolina were disposed, for the present, 
to act with the other States. I knew if all the Southern 
States met in convention, the Union was safe, and sepa- 
rate secession would be repudiated. The Governor told 
me I never was more mistaken in all my life, and that 
when we met in the State convention, after the election I 
would acknowledge it. 

The election for delegates to a Southern convention was 
carried by the co-operationists all over the State, against 
the secessionists. When I met Govei^nor Means in the 
State conventioUj which had been called by the Legis- 
lature, and to which I had been elected, long before the 
election of delegates to a Southern convention, he said to 
me, "You had formed a better judgment of the popular 
feeling of the State than I had, and I do not know how 
I could have been so much deceived." I told him that 
I could account for it very readily. His associates all 
over the State were secessionists. They were out-spoken 
and over-sanguine, while the co-operationists and union 
men felt some delicacy in declaring their sentiments, and 
kept silent, out of respect to his feeling and sentiments. 
He then said to me that the most cordial and flattering re- 
ception he had met anywhere in the State was at Green- 
ville, where the co-operationists and union men carried 
the election foiu' to one. At Bruton's old field, in the 



162 John H. Means. 

upper part of Greenville, they applauded most vehe- 
mently when he concluded his address to the regiment. 

When the State Convention assembled Governor 
Means was elected President of the Convention unani- 
mously. In the former State convention, which as- 
sembled whilst Governor Hamilton filled the executive 
chair, he was elected president at its first session ; and 
when it reassembled Governor Hamilton resigned for 
the purpose of giving place to Governor Hayne, who 
had been, in the mean time, elected Governor of the 
State. In organizing the committee of " Twenty-one '^ to 
prepare business for the Convention, Governor Means 
did me the honor to place my name on the committee. 
Some of his secession friends were greatly surprised, that 
an old union delegate should be placed on a committee to 
prepare for seceding from the Union. It was well un- 
derstood, however, that the election of delegates to a 
convention of the Southern States, had check-mated the 
State Convention in their proposed secession move- 
ment. Although there were two-thirds of the members 
of the State Convention in fiivor of seceding, they could 
not dare take such a step when two-thirds of the people 
of South Carolina had just voted against it. I twitted 
the members a good deal for refusing to secede. I told 
them that they had a large majority of the Convention, 
and could secede if they wished ; that the co-operation 
members had pledged themselves to go with the State if 
they did secede, and I saw no difficulty in the way. 
One morning I went to the Convention very early and 
saw Governor Seabrook reading the Southern Patriot. 
He said to me that he was greatly amused at my remarks 
urging the State Convention to secede. 

When the committee of " Twenty-one " met. Judge 
Cheves, the chairman of the committee, submitted a re- 
port of four or five lines, asserting the right of secession, 
but declining to exercise tlie right at present. He said, 
after his report was adopted, that if any member of the 
committee had any resolutions to submit to the conven- 



John H. Means. 1(>) 

tion he hoped they would first present them to the com- 
mittee. Thereupon I read to the committee a preamble 
and resolutions, which I intended to submit to the Con- 
vention. General Gregg also read a paper which he had 
prepared. After Judge Cheves had submitted his re- 
port to the Convention, I read my preamble and reso- 
lutions, and General Gregg read his paper. The Hon. 
Barnwell Rhett, who was not a member of the Con- 
vention, but the prince of secessionists, came to me and 
said, after I had read the paper submitted; that it was a 
little remarkable that an old Union man should take 
higher ground in regard to our rights than the other 
members of the committee. 

When the State did secede, in 1860, Governor Means 
came to the dinner table, where I was sitting in Congaree 
Hotel, and said it was a matter of some public interest 
to know what course I would now pursue. I replied 
that I had been, for the last thirty years, trying to keep 
the State from committing so dreadful and suicidal a 
folly ; but all my life-long efforts had proved unavailing, 
and "they w^re now all going to the devil and I would 
go with them !" The Governor said he was glad to 
have my company, but denied the road I said we were 
going to travel. I explained further and said that honor 
and patriotism required every citizen to defend his 
country, or leave it. I could not, and would not leave 
my native State, therefore I must defend her, be the 
consequences what they might. 

After the war commenced. Governor Means raised a 
regiment and was for some time encamped in the lower 
part of the State, near my friend and neighbor. Colonel 
Charles J. Elford and his regiment. Colonel Elford told 
me, that whenever he met Governor Means, I was sure 
to be the subject of conversation, and that he always ex- 
pressed himself in the kindest terms towards me. He 
went with his regiment to Virginia and was there killed 
in battle. He told me, whilst organizing his regiment, 
that he entered the service from a sense of duty and was 



164 John H. Means. 

actuated by no ambitious views of Ikjuop and glory. He 
said he had long since thrown aside his ambition, and if 
he had any left it was for his son, and his success in 
life. But as he had been the warm advocate of secession, 
which had brought on the war, -he thought honor and 
patriotism required him to volunteer his services in de- 
fence of the doctrines he had advocated. 

I was in Charleston once with Governor Means, and 
he proposed we should go to the theatre that evening. 
When we entered, a troupe of ballet girls Avere in full 
blast, fifteen or twenty of them dancing in very short 
costumes. The governor turned to me as we seated our- 
selves, and said, with a smiling grin, peculiar to him, 
'^ How do you like the exliibitiou ?'' I replied I had 
never seen ^^ so many legs before in all my life.'' He 
was convulsed at the expression, and often repeated it 
with great glee. I was riding with Governor Means all 
through the town of Columbia a lovely morning in May, 
before the war. He called my attention to the beautiful 
gardens filled with floAvers, and the houses in the centre 
of the garden, and said Columbia ought to be called " the 
city of flowTT gardens." I thought the expression a 
very happy and appropriate one. It Avas then, but it 
Avould not be now. Sherman's march Avas alike destruc- • 
tive to houses and gardens. 

GoA^ernor Means never studied a profession, but de- 
A'oted himself to his planting interest in Fairfield. He 
Avas a gentleman of a highly cultiA^ated mind, fond of 
literature, and a fine belles-lettres scholar, AA'riting and 
speaking Avell. He Avas fond of society and the company 
of his friends. His death was deeply mourned by all 
who kncAv him, as a noble gentleman, a sincere friend, a 
sterling patriot, and heroically brave. He Avas the model 
of a country gentleman of the old regime, Avithout fear 
and without reproach. 




FRANCIS W. PICKENS. 



FRANCIS W. PICKENS. 

I became acquainted with Governor Pickens early in 
life. We were born in the same district, Pendleton, now 
Oconee County. He was the son of Governor Andrew 
Pickens, and the grandson of General Andrew Pickens, 
of revolutionary fame, a sterling patriot and one of the 
purest and best of men. Gen. Pickens, in the latter part 
of his life, retired to the mountains and died at his resi- 
dence on Tomassee, now owned by Mr. Jones. 

Governor Andrew Pickens was a colonel in the regular 
army during the Avar of 1812 and 1815. He moved to 
Alabama in 1819, and his son Francis was first sent to 
the Athens College, in Georgia, and afterwards to the 
South Carolina College, where he graduated with high 
reputation for talents, honor and energy. Mr. John C. 
Calhoun, who was his relation, regarded him as the most 
promising young man in the State at that time. He 
read law at Edgefield, was admitted to the bar, and soon 
afterwards elected a member of the Legislature. He then 
succeeded Governor McDuflfie in Congress, where he es- 
tablished a high character as a statesman and debater. 
He resigned his seat in Congress and went into the State 
Senate, where I served with him several sessions. He 
was then appointed, by President Buchanan, Minister to 
Russia, and after his return home, he w^as elected Gover- 
nor of South Carolina, just before the breaking out of 
the civil war. 

I will not speak in detail of Governor Pickens' ser- 
vices in the Legislature, in Congress, at the Court of St. 
Petersburg, and in the executive chair of the State, as 
Mr. Youmans, of Edgefield, has already written a most 



166 Francis W. Pickens. 

admirable sketch of his life, charactei^ and public services, 
aud to which I refer the reader. My purpose in writing 
this reminiscence of Governor Pickens is to publish the 
letters, or some of them, which I had the honor of re- 
ceiving from him, and which are eminently entitled to 
public interest. They were Avritten, it is true, as strictly 
confidential; but since the death of Gov. Pickens, I see 
no impropriety in publishing them. Indeed, one of his 
letters from St. Petersburg, relative to the history of his 
grandfather. General Pickens, is worthy of being em- 
bodied in the history of the country. 

Whilst Provisional Governor, I urged Gov. Pickens 
to become a candidate, in Edgefield, for a seat in the 
State Convention, and told him what President Johnson 
said to me, that he would pardon all whom I wished to 
be members of that convention. In consequence of my 
earnest entreaties, the Governor was elected, and served 
in the convention. I sent the President a list of the 
members to be pardoned. He sent me promptly par- 
dons for all of them, except Gov. Pickens. He said 
nothing about him. I telegraphed the omission, and re- 
ceived no reply. The Governor became very uneasy, 
and Avrote me several long letters. In one of these letters 
he inclosed a letter to President Johnson. I wrote the 
President again, and stated 'what he had said to me, and 
what I had told Gov. Pickens on his being a candidate 
for the convention. But President Johnson remained 
silent, and not a word in reply could I get from him. 
This looked very ominous. Mrs. Pickens became deeply 
interested, and came to Columbia to see me on the sub- 
ject. At her instance, I sent a long telegram to the 
President once more ; but could not draw his fire. Gov. 
McGrath was, at this time, in one of the Federal prisons, 
and daily expecting to see Gov. Pickens. But, although 
no pardon came for Gov. Pickens, he was not sent to 
keep Gov. McGrath company in his Federal prison. 

Gov. Pickens was thrice married, and all his wives 
were most beautiful, lovely and accomplished ladies. The 



Francis W. Pickens. 167 

last one, whom lie married on the eve of his setting out 
for Russia, was pre-eminent for her beauty, intelligence 
and accomplishments. She was, most deservedly, the 
belle of the South. The Governor left children by each 
marriage, but no son to inherit his illustrious name, and 
hand it down to future ages. This is to be deeply re- 
gretted, for a name so distinguished in three successive 
generations, should not be lost, but live in posterity. 

The character of Governor Pickens was high-toned 
and honorable. By nature, he was impressive and im- 
petuous, and yet he had a great deal of prudence and 
caution in his composition. He was proud of his an- 
cestry, and justly so; and he was conscious of his own 
talents and abilities. We differed widely in our politics, 
but our social relations were always most cordial and 
friendly, as will be seen by his letters to me, both at 
home and abroad. 

Columbia, Saturday, June 27, 1857. 

My Dear Sir: — In looking over the morning paper, I see an ex- 
tract from you speaking kindly of me in relation to my refusal of 
the Kussian mission. I desire to state briefly the reasons which in- 
duced me to decline it. 

Judge Butler's death has thrown much confusion into the State, 
and if I could contribute to placing South Carolina in close com- 
munion and intimate councils with her sister States of the South, I 
feel that I would be doing some good. It is time that she should 
be raised above the provincial and isolated views of great questions 
in which the South have a common interest and a common destiny. 
I was in the Senate, from Edgefield, when I refused the mission to 
England, and, if you recollect, the Blufton move was at that time 
made, and I thought, from the names connected with it, that it would 
be far more serious than it was. When Governor Hammond in- 
roduced his premature and ill-judged message, I felt it my duty to 
introduce resolutions into the Senate repudiating the move, for 
which I was bitterly denounced, and even McDuffie wrote a letter 
to Colcock, the Speaker of the House, denouncing ray resolutions ; 
but still I passed them by a unanimous vote, on the yeas and nays. 
I was then peculiarly situated, for I had attended the great Demo- 
cratic Convention, 1844, at the urgent request of Mr. Calhoun, and 
had a full and confidential intervieiu with Mr. Polk before I would 
address the convention at Shelbyville. That interview was satis- 
factory, and I wrote Mr. Calhoun from Mr. Polk's library, and 
showed the letter to Mr. Polk, and he and Mr. Calhoun thoroughly 



168 Francis W. PickenI^. 

understood each other, and we went fully into the canvass. The 
details of this interview, and the conditions, will make a great 
point in the history of parties, if ever published, and they will be. 
I understand Col. Benton has published a part of it, as far as he 
knew. SuflBce at present to say, that it placed me in a very pecu- 
liar position, and my private honor, as well as public duty, com- 
pelled me to take the course 1 afterwards did, in relation to his ad- 
dress on the Texas question and war, etc., etc., and I thought, too, 
it placed Mr. Calhoun in the same position. But I merely allude 
to it now to let you know that this was the real reason I declined 
the Federal oflBce he tendered me. I wished to stand in the State 
untrammeled, so as to be able to indicate truth and principle, even 
if I lost position in the State. The history of public events after 
that you are acquainted with. Now, as to the present mission 
which I recently refused, I was induced to do so just because I have 
no taste for Federal office ; and secondly, 1 thought 1 owed it to my 
friends to stand by them in the struggle for the Senatorship, which,. 
1 felt, it was deepiy important should be in the hands of a man who 
would aid in placing the State in her proper relations to her sister 
States of the South, as well as to the Constitution and the Union 
under it. 

The final settlement of the slave holding race, is the greatest 
problem to be worked out under our complicated system of govern- 
ment. It will require enlarged statesmanship and high nerve lo 
carry our institutions through the conflicts that must arise in the 
progress of events. What we want, at present, is wise considera- 
tion and thorough knowledge. For the first time in thirty years 
the South is united. Ultraism, under existing circumstances, would 
lead to division, and division will prove our ruin. We have the 
Executive with us, and the Senate, and in all probability the House 
of Representatives, too. Besides, we have repealed the Missouri 
Bill, and the Supreme Court, in a decision of great power, has de- 
clared it and all kindred measures, on the part of the Federal 
Government, unconstitutional, null and void. So, that before our 
enemies can reach us, they must first break down the Supreme 
Court, change the Senate and seize the Executive, and, by an open 
appeal to revolution, restore the Missouri line, repeal the fugitive 
slave law, and change, in fact, the whole Government. As long as 
the Government is on our side, 1 am for sustaining it, and using its 
power for our benefit, and placing the screws upon the thumbs of 
our opponents, so as to make them feel. As long as we are in the 
Union, I conscientiously believe it to be our duty to discharge 
faithfully and manfully all our obligations to the Constitution and 
the Federal Union under it. We owe it to ourselves ; we owe it to 
posterity ; we owe it to our power as a great people amongst the 
nations of the earth in progressive civilization, to save, if possible, 
the Constitution and our institutions, as a common blessing to man- 
kind. These are, and ever have been, my firm convictions. If our 
opponents reverse the present state of things, seize the power of 
Government, change the issues and overthrow the Constitution, 



Francis W. Pickens. 169 

then I am for war. At present, 1 am for standing by the Govern- 
ment, and compelling them to move on the offensive. Heretofore, 
we have complained of grievances, and when we moved that was 
division amongst us, so now, when they complain, and are com- 
pelled to move, they must be divided. In part, the division now at 
the North is deep and bitter, and it is between capitalists and 
laborers, and as population increases, and becomes so dense as to 
press society down into its different strata, this difference will grow 
deeper and wider every year. On the contrary, we are forced to 
union, if we make no ill-judgments. And the vast increase in 
price of all Southern productions, together with the great un- 
bounded value of slave property, has added immensely to Southern 
power. The game is a delicate one, and the stake great, but with 
enlarged statesmanship and firmness, we can play it, and we can 
win it. Let us keep cool and keep united. What we want at 
present is trusty sentinels to walk with a steady tread around the 
battlements of our entrenched camp ; but we want no premature 
opening of any masked battery. If we do, it will only expose the 
division of the camp within, and invite the entrance of the foe 
through some remote gate, or perhaps over an open break in the 
walls. We want men in position who have character enough at 
home, and firmness enough, to resist unwise councils and premature 
moves amongst ourselves, as well as integrity enough, and firmness 
enough, to resist aggression abroad, too. If there be a necessity, 
and we are deeply and permanently wronged, there lives no man 
in South Carolina who will go further than I will, or who 
will risk his property and life sooner than I will, to vindicate our 
rights or defend our honor. But while I feel this, and I trust my 
life has shown it, I at the same time will never bend to the dicta- 
tion of any clique at home, or heed ill-judged or premature coun- 
cils from those who see but one side of a great question, and do not 
care to comprehend the complicated relations we bear to our sister 
States of the South, as well as our relations, under the Federal 
compact, to the States of the North. I trust, too, my course in the 
State has shown this, and this is the reason why I have never made 
myself what the world calls popular. I scorn to wear the trammels 
of oflSce, if, at the same time time, I have to wear the livery of any 
clique. I trust I shall never avoid the responsibility of any duty ; 
but I vastly prefer the proud consciousness of private independence, 
to wearing the insignia of power, if conferred by those who claim 
to be my masters. 

I think I understand the interests of the slave-holding race ; it 
has been my study for twenty-five years. And yet, I saw to-day, in 
a paper handed me, published in Anderson, called the True Carolin- 
ian, a paper I never heard of before in my life, it stated by the 
editor that I was not to be trusted on the vital question (meaning 
slavery). I did not dream before that any man in South Carolina 
doubted me on that point. I, born with the institution over me for 
three generations on both sides, not to be trusted ! At one time I 
owned largely over 500 negroes. I have two daughters married, 



170 Francis W. Pickens. 

and sold a place last year, with the negroes on it, and of course my 
settlements to my daughters, and this sale, have reduced the num- 
ber mucii below that now. I once bought, in 1846, 113 negroes in 
Alabama, and actually moved 65 of them, in 1859, to South 
Carolina ; and I doubt if any other man, in South Carolina, ever 
did purchase negroes in the West and move them here. If I had 
moved to Alabama, as my father once urged me very much to do, I 
could have been worth twice as much as I am. He died in Mis- 
sissippi, and left me a plantation and negroes in that State, and also 
one on the Alabama river, near Selma. I sold both plantations 
and moved every negro to South Carolina. And yet, I not true to 
South Carolina and slavery? The editor says, also, I "desire 
Federal offices, and let me take them." I can say proudly, (and I 
say so to you alone, not to the public,) that I have refused more 
high Federal offices than any man ever did in America. 

I write you freely and frankly, as is my habit to those I esteem 
as gentlemen ; and although we have differed widely in politics, 
yet 5 have ever esteemed you as an independent gentleman. I saw 
what you had kindly said of me in your paper, and I thought I 
would write you this freely ; of course, intending it to be entirely 
private between us ; but if you ever choose to use the facts, or if 
any person feels the slightest interest in my principles, you can in- 
form them in the most authentic manner. But as far as I am per- 
sonally concerned, I desire as little notoriety as is possible. 

The omnibus is waiting. In very great haste, but respectfully, 
and truly yours. 

F. W. PICKENS. 
Hon. B. F. Perry. 

St. Petersburg, April 24, 1859. 
My Dear Sir: — You will pardon me for writing you on a subject 
in which I feel a deep interest. I am told it is intended that like- 
nesses, or busts, in some shape or form, are to be placed in niches 
or places, about our new Capitol at Columbia, of our distinguished 
men in the State. If so, and it is intended to place Sumter and 
Marion there, as they ought undoubtedly to be, I do hope they will 
also place General Pickens, too. They were undoubtedly the great- 
est partisan generals ever produced in the United States, consider- 
ing their means and the theatre. There has always been an un- 
accountable prejudice in the lower country, which has prevented 
them always from doing justice to General Pickens. You see it in 
that picture, in the Senate Chamber, of the battle of the Eutaws. 
All the officers are pointed out, except General Pickens, and yet 
he and Marion jointly commanded all the militia of the Southern 
States at that battle; and General Pickens was actually shot from 
his horse by a musket ball, just at the close of the battle, which 
struck him right in the breast, and his life was only &aved by the 
ball being somewhat spent, and glancing, hit his sword buckle and 
dented it into his breast bone, which ever after hurt him through 
life. He was picked up by the soldiers as dead, but soon recovered. 



Francis W. Pickens. 171 

Yet he is not mentioned in the picture in the Senate by White ; 
while others, as low as captains, are conspicuously put forward. 
True, he was some ten years younger than Marion or Sumter, but 
if you consult the histories of the day — Ramsey's, " Lee's Memoirs 
of the Southern Campaign," or " Judge Johnson's Life of Green" 
— you will see that he acted more in concert with the authorities of 
Congress than either of the others ; and, whether from accident or 
otherwise, he was in most all the important battles. Lee and 
Johnson both gave a full and particular account of the siege and 
capture of Augusta, one of the most important events in the South- 
ern war; and by looking into them, you will see that General 
Pickens acted his part nobly, and the city surrendered to his com- 
mand, after it had been for two years in possession of the British 
and Tories. And when Col. Brown was captured there, it was Gen. 
Pickens who saved him from the fury of the Georgia militia, under 
Clark, and others, who would have murdered him for his brutali- 
ties practiced on the Georgians. Gen. Pickens placed him in a 
boat, under the guard of fifteen armed men detached, and sent him 
to Savannah, under his special protection, which saved him ; and 
yet, a Tory and British writer accused him of inhumanity, etc. He 
fought often before the Star Redoubt, at " 96," and had a brother, 
captain of a company, shot down before the Fort, and another 
brother captured by the British, who delivered him over to the 
Tories, who actually went with him into Columbia county, Georgia, 
and then gave him to the Indians, who had been to Augusta, and 
they actually tied him on a pile of lightwood, and burnt him. He 
manoeuvred between Col. Boyd and Maj. Hamilton, and prevented 
their junction at Vienna, on Savannah River; and after Boyd 
crossed at the Cherokee Ford, about 17 miles above Petersburg, he 
too crossed at Vienna, and joined Colonel Darby and Col. Clark, 
of Georgia, with their forces, and they immediately voted him 
commander of all the forces ; and he pursued Boyd, and fought 
that glorious battle of Kettle Creek, which had such an important 
bearing in breaking up the Tories in the upper part of South Caro- 
lina. He commanded at the Cowpens, as you are well aware, and 
Morgan would not have fought then but for his counsel and aid, 
as you will see from Lee's memoirs, confirmed by Col. Hund's 
notes. I enclose you an account of that battle, extracted from Lee, 
Ramsay and Johnson, and you will see what part he acted, given 
by those who wrote at the time. You there see that a whole bat- 
talion of British surrendered to him personally. Col. Johnson, 
who was his aid, afterwards Governor of Georgia, says they refused 
to surrender to any but him. Congress voted him a sword, which I 
now have, etc. Yet, when they celebrated the battle, a year or so 
ago, they scarcely mentioned his name ; and, I understand, that 
when the monument was erected, I believe by the Washington 
Company, from Charleston, some objected to having his name in- 
scribed upon the monument. 

Please keep this account of the battle I now enclose from Lee, 
Ramsay and Johnson, and if I return ever, please enclose it back 



172 Francis W. Pickens. 

to me, or give it to Mr. James N. Lipscomb, now at Cliappel's 
Depot, to keep for me. Gen. Pickens, after the battle, went with 
Morgan to join Green, who was retreating before Cornwallis, and 
owing to some interruption, or dispute, left, under sanction of Gov. 
Eutledge, to come back to South Carolina, to raise the country, as 
it had been overrun for three years before. It was then he, with 
his command, fell in with Col. Pyle's men, on Haw River, ]S[. C, 
in the night, and cut 300 of them to pieces, while they were crying, 
" God save the King," as they supposed Gen. P's. forces were Col. 
Tarlton's. Tarlton, in his account of the Southern Campaign, says 
the most murderous fire he ever encountered was the fire of the 
militia under Col. Pickens, at the Cowpens. Gov. Swain, now 
President of Chappell Hill University, wrote me he had found out 
that when Gen. Davidson died, that the Brigade he commanded, 
from the Mecklenburg section, elected Gen. Pickens a General over 
them to command, and he was actually a General in both States. This 
was done because of their Presbyterian attachment to Gen. Pickens, 
I suppose. I will here state a remarkable fact, that Gen. Pickens 
never received a cent of pay from the State or Congress for any 
service as Captain, Major, Colonel or General through the whole 
war. Young Mr. Black, whom your Legislature appointed agent 
for Revolutionary claims, at Washington, was the first to inform me 
of the fact, and has examined the records at Columbia fully, and 
certified the fact ; and it is also a fact, that he is the only officer, of 
any grade, who did not receive any pay whatever. There are 
hundreds of certificates of his on record upon which other officers 
received their pay, but there is no evidence whatever of his ever 
having taken a cent himself. If you see hiiu you can know the full 
facts, and if so, it is a very remarkable fact. You are aware that he 
was the first man who conquered the Cherokee Indians, the most 
powerful of all Southern tribes. He fought them with mounted 
men, and cutlasses made in the country by common blacksmiths, 
and then he held the Treaty of Hopewell, the 3d article of which 
fixes the boundary of the nation according to his own will, without 
their consent. By that Treaty, the Western part of South Carolina 
was obtained, etc. And it is upon that Treaty that the Georgians 
claimed their right to the eminent domain, allowing the Indians 
only the right of temporary possession, denying them independent 
sovereignty, etc., etc. He was oflfered a commission, by Washing- 
ton, in the Northwestern army, raised for a general war against the 
Indians ; but he .refused it at that time. Jefierson appointed him a 
Commissioner, to run the line between Georgia and Tennessee, and 
he actually, with others, did run it. And I furnished Gov. Swain, 
when Governor of North Carolina, the original commission, on 
parchment, and his notes ; and he wrote me that it saved to North 
Carolina possessions worth $700,000. He was one of the Commis- 
sioners to run and settle the line between Georgia and South Caro- 
lina. He held the Treaty of Milledgeville, by which large territories 
beyond the Ochmulgee were ceded to Georgia. He held the Treaty 
of Huntsville, also with the Indians ; and also the Treaty of 



Francis W. Pickens. 173 

Natches, in Mississippi ; and also went down the Cumberland 
riyer, Louisiana, before any white man, and was often shot at from 
the banks, by Indians; and he examined all of Georgia, Alabama 
and Mississippi, when all was an Indian country ; and I have notes, 
of three volumes, in his own hand-writing, as to the whole country. 
You know that part of his life when, with old Col. Cleveland, of 
Greenville, he exercised unbounded authority over the upper coun- 
try of South Carolina, administering justice, law, and everything 
else. He sat in the first County Court ever held at the old Block 
house, near Abbeville Court House, And my father, a child, drew 
the first jury that ever was impanneled in Abbeville District, after 
Independence. 

He was elected to Congress 1793, and went to Congress 1794, when 
he resigned his oflBce of Major General, held from South Carolina, 
from the Revolution until then ; and in his letter of resignation to 
the Legislature, he recommended that they should appoint Capt. 
Wm. Butler, his successor, and they actually did so, which is the 
reason Judge Butler was named after him, as he was born soon after 
that event. You are aware that the test vote on the Constitution 
of the United States was taken in the Legislature of South Carolina, 
on the question as to the call of a convention, and it passed by but 
one majority, I think. He was in that Legislature, and often a 
member ; and was elected again, without his knowledge, in 1812, 
and, at great age, took his part for the war ; and was oflfered, or 
rather requested to become Governor, but he declined upon the 
averred ground that the struggle should be left to younger and more 
active men. 

I mention these general outlines of his life, because I really think 
they are not generally known, and as far the lower country is con- 
cerned, never have been appreciated ; and I do really think it will 
be cruel injustice in them, if they refuse him a place in the new 
State House, and place Sumter and Marion there. I write you this 
freely, because I have entire confidence in the purity and integrity 
of your character, and because I know you feel a deep and proper 
interest in all that interests the honor or the rights of the upper 
country. 

It is natural that they should feel great animosity to me, for I 
have ever scorned to take counsel from the cliques and clubs who 
have of late years governed our State ; but I think it hard they 
should visit it upon one who served his country and periled his life 
in her cause, through the Revolution, and never asked or received 
a single cent for his services as an officer, at any time, and is the 
only officer who did not take his pay. Out of our State, in the 
general history of the country, his name and Marion's and Sumter's 
are entwined together as the great partisan officers of that day, and 
they ought to go together in our State. I trust I am not trespassing 
too much on your kindness to call your earliest attention to this 
subject, for our low country friends will act together, in advance, 
and fix upon the names to go into that State House, before you in 
the upper country think of it. The historical papers of our see- 



174 Francis W. Pickp:ns. 

tion were not properly attended to. My father, who was named 
Andrew, too, early in life accepted the commission of Colonel, of 
the 10th Regiment, in the Regular army, and was in those severe 
campaigns on the Canada frontier in the war of 1812 ; and before 
the close, you know, was called home by being elected Colonel in 
the State Brigade, S. C, raised for her own defence, and Judge 
Huger was elected its General, and Drayton the Lieutenant-Colonel ; 
and then, 1817, was elected Governor, and immediately afterwards 
settled his estates in Alabama, 1818 and 1819. So, he was called 
off, and my grandfather's papers were entirely neglected, being left 
at his death, 1817, in possession of his youngest son, .Joseph, who 
took no interest in such matters. He too went off to Alabama, in 
1818, and I found the papers, accidentally, in 1830, after they had 
been lying in a loose trunk, in Grisham's store, in Pendleton, all 
scattered and lost. Whether you approve or disapprove of any- 
thing I have suggested, I hope if will all be strictly confidential, so 
far as my name is concerned. Your uniform kindness and disin- 
terested support of me have filled my breast with a grateful remem- 
brance I shall carry with me to my grave. You will recollect that 
I was the first and only Representative from South Carolina, who, 
at the extra session of 1837, supported the Independent Treasury, 
and spoke for it. Gen. Thompson can tell you all about it. I was 
then denounced as having gone over to the general Democratic 
party, under Van Buren, and deserting South Carolina, by those 
who have ever assumed to themselves the exclusive guardianship 
of the honor and rights of our State. So, too, when I was chairman 
of the committee on Foreign Affairs, 1839, I made a report indi- 
cating the honor and rights of our common country upon the burn- 
ing of the Caroline and the McLeod affair, and the eastern 
boundary, etc.; and again the Mercury and Carolinian, then under 
Pemberton, both were out upon me because I was national, and 
looked to Federal power. When I introduced and passed my reso- 
lutions in our State Senate, against Hammond's message, and 
Blufton ultraism, you recollect how I was abused again by the same 
party. Then, again, when I thought it due to our honor, we should 
sustain Polk and the war with Mexico, I was denounced as an 
enemy to Mr. Calhoun, and devoted to the national Democracy, 
etc., etc. So, again, in 1846, when I openly sustained Cass against 
Taylor, after Mr. Calhoun and the whole delegation in Congress 
had written home to urge the State to go for Taylor, I was put down 
as a traitor to the State. And in 1856, at our State Convention, to 
send delegates to Cincinnati, you recollect how I was abused by the 
same desperate faction. I only mention these facts or points to show 
the cause of the deep opposition to me — it is because I have ever 
been in their way. And although the State has ever turned the 
back of her hand to me, yet I feel a proud satisfaction in knowing 
that she has ever sustained, in the end, exactly the position I as- 
sumed, and for which I was at first denounced. Even in the late 
defeat of myself, the very men who were put up to put me down, 
have occupied exactly the same conservative grounds that I stood 



Francis W. Pickens. 175 

upoD, and if anything, go further than I ever did. I hope they may 
be able long to control the State, and give a more common-sense 
and dignified course to South Carolina than she has pursued for 
years past. Of one thing I feel proudly conscious, that, at no period 
of my life, have I ever, for a single moment, felt one passing emo- 
tion separate from her honor and her rights. I have no complaints 
to make, and have not a single unkind feeling towards any human 
being who has ever wronged me in public matters. 

I do not know what plan will be adopted by the Legislature as to 
the matter of placing likenesses of her distinguished men in the new 
State House, but if any likeness should be wanted, I have one at 
Edgefield, painted by Sully, in the Revolutionary uniform exact. 

I have found Europe much as I expected — their magnificent 
public buildings and palaces, their superb gardens and parks, their 
gorgeous churches and display of wealth and power, are all such as 
one might expect, from powerful and despotic governments. On 
the surface, to a stranger, everything appears very captivating ; but 
when I turn from these things, and think of the degradation and 
helplessness of the great masses, my heart sickens. Their vast stand- 
ing armies, their hereditary nobility, their established churches and 
privileged priesthood — all fasten themselves upon the body politic, 
and, like great vampires, fan, while they suck the life-blood of their 
writhing victims. Since I have looked more into the internal 
workings of European governments, my feelings turn with fonder 
and prouder afiection for my own home and beloved country than 
they ever have done before through life. True, we may have heavy 
and grievous evils, but all government is evil, and the only reason 
we submit to it is that it prevents a greater evil, which is anarchy ; 
and, at last, government is but a choice of evils. You may prove 
any government full of wrong, but then there lies behind that a far 
greater question, and that is, what kind of government have you to 
put into its place, and you must demonstrate that it is better than 
the one you have. I see Seward, in one of his speeches, triumph- 
antly holds up France and Germany as illustrating the progress 
that had been made under governments resting upon what he calls 
a " free labor basis." Would to God that he, and all such, could 
be made to feel the blessings, practically, of French fraternity and 
French equality, under the most guiding government that God ever 
cursed the human family with. And if these visionary fanatics, 
who are now willing to drive our government to dissolution and ruin, 
under the vain theory of ideal equality, could be made to live for a 
few years under German sentimentality, and their schools of* empty 
ideality, it would cool their ardor, and they would be ready to ex- 
claim, " God save us from that progress which is developed under 
governments resting upon a 'free labor basis.' " 

I see there appears to be much confusion in our politics, both 
National and State. I trust that all factious divisions will yet be 
healed, and that Providence will guide and direct us, as He had done 
heretofore, and save the institutions of our country, as a common 
blessing for mankind. 



17(i Francis W. Pickp:ns. 

I see Col. Orr is freely spoken of as President. Judging from 
what I saw at the Cincinnati Convention, I am satisfied no man 
South had such popularity in the Government Northwest ; and if 
they could carry his election, it would go very far to heal over all 
bitter feelings, and restore confidence and repose to the South. I 
do trust that our friends will take the earliest and most decided 
steps in South Carolina for a full and able representation at Charles- 
ton, in 1860. I have no doubt that many who before opposed going 
into convention will now make a merit of sustaining this ; but our 
friends, who bore the odium of the former convention, ought to 
move in advance, so as to claim it as their own move. I think, I 
would go so far as to propose early, that each battalion, in every 
regiment, shall, at the battalion musters, ballot and elect four dele- 
gates, to m.eet in a Congressional District Convention, and there 
nominate delegates to a general State Convention, at Columbia, for 
the purpose of being eflfectively represented, and making it emi- 
nently a popular move amongst the great masses of the people; and 
in convention at Columbia, not only appoint your ablest men to go 
to Charleston, but make a liberal and handsome arrangement to 
receive the delegates in 1860, from all the States in the Union, in 
the finest and most cordial manner. This, too, would enable us to 
discuss the propriety of giving the election to the people in our 
State, as elsewhere, and bring it prominently up all over the State, 
and it would give us men in each battalion who would take an active 
part in the practical government of the State upon popular princi- 
ples. I wrote my friend, Judge McGrath, of Charleston, very fully, 
and enclosed what I had written as far back as 23d October last, on 
politics generally ; and if you see him, you are at liberty to read it 
if you desire any such thing, as a friend of mine. Of course, I 
write you confidentially. 

We have been received with great kindness by the Court and 
society here, and the Russian^ are very friendly to our country and 
people. As to war in Europe, I do not feel authorized to say much, 
but there is a strong probability of war at present. It is hard to 
avoid it. 

Will you be so kind as to present me, most respectfully, to Mrs. 
Perry, and accept for yourself the regard and esteem of 
Yours, very truly, 

F. W. PICKENS. 
Hon. B. F. Perry, Greenville, S. C. 

St. PETERSBURG; Nov. 21, 1859. 
My Dear Sir : I wrote you a long letter many months since, 
intended to be entirely private. I have never heard if you received 
it or not, and I fear it was so long it was an intrusion upon your 
time ; but your uniform kindness and generous support of me, on 
various occasions, prompted me to write fully, as I felt cordially 
thankful to you for many acts which I had no right to expect from 
you. The enclosure I made you, relating to the battle of the Cow- 
pens, I desire you to keep for me, or to enclose to Maj. J. N. 



Francis W. Pickens. 177 

Lipscomb, ChappelFs Depot P. O., Greenville K. R. I rejoice to 
see in our State more reasonable and wiser counsels prevailing than 
for years. When, as presiding officer of the convention in Colum- 
bia, to send delegates to Cincinnati, I first took moderate grounds, 
because the great issues in the country had changed, I was furiously 
denounced, and afterwards defeated on the grounds of my conserva- 
tism and supposed connection with the national Democracy ; but I 
now see those our State has put in power taking precisely the same 
position for which I was repudiated. So it was on the Independent 
Treasury, in 1837. I was the only member from South Carolina 
who voted for it, and was denounced for it ; and so, too, in the 
Mexican war, and support of Polk, etc. 

The recent terrible outbreak at Harper's Ferry, and its far more 
terrible disclosures and ramifications, are enough to fill the breasts 
of all good men with forebodings as to the future. If, after what 
has developed, the Northern people do not rise up and rebuke with 
condemnation the vile and base demagogues who have, by their 
infamous countenance, led the country to the brink of ruin, then 
indeed will the South be forced to protect herself. If, however, the 
Conservative men of the North do their duty promptly, it may be 
the means of confirming the confidence of the South in their in- 
tegrity and ability. But if they fail to do their duty now, then, it 
is idle to deny the fact — we are on the eve of great events, and the 
deepest responsibility will rest upon us all in the South. "We must 
honestly endeavor to save the Constitution and the Federal Union, 
if it can be done with safety; and if not, then we must, in any 
event, save ourselves and our homes. I see many Northern papers 
and politicians urge the most extreme measure, but we must be 
guarded in receiving their advice, for they only look on it to be used 
as the means of triumphing over their local opponents and parties, and 
care not as to the real wisdom of Southern moves, or its effects upon 
our interests. We cannot look upon it in the light of mere partisan 
warfare, we must treat it as involving our peace and final destiny ; and 
in this point of view, it will require profound statesmenship. We 
must make it the basis of systematic and concerted moves to secure 
permanent and fixed guarantees for the future, if the Union is to be 
permanently saved. Our people have been educated to compacts 
and chartered rights, as a substitute for revolution and the sword. 
We must have some additional covenant. Our sister border States 
of the North must not be used as places or nurseries to organize 
systematic plans of fierce and bloody invasions, and to keep the 
Southern States in constant trepidation and aggravation. It must 
be made their duty to enforce a police in their own borders against 
border invasions of their sister States. We will have to demand a 
convention of the States, under the Constitution, if the Northern 
people now refuse to act promptly, and to put down, by decided 
moves, their desperate leaders and their counsels ; and propose a 
new covenant or league, to cover and protect our peace and safety. 
And if this be denied us, then we can stand before the world, and 
posterity justified in this last great appeal. I merely throw out 



178 Francis W. Pickens. 

chese hints, as the subject is just now before me, from reviewing the 
papers "yesterday, which have given me the full details of the Har- 
per's Ferry affair — that has taken me entirely by surprise. I am 
lost in astonishment at its ramifications. I trust, however, Provi- 
dence, who has so often heretofore taken care of us in eventful 
periods, will guide and direct events so as to bring order out of 
apparent confusion, and finally preserve our beloved country as a 
blessing for many generations yet to come. After viewing more 
closely the dreadful evils incident to all European governments, 
my heart turns with fonder attachment to my own country and her 
institutions than it has ever before felt. And while I feel the 
deepest stake that the honor and the peace of the South shall be 
preserved, and will, without hesitation, ris^k my life and my fortune 
tor it, yet I also feel a deep desire to preserve our great compact of 
Union, and the common country, which our common forefathers 
made at a momentous period in human afiairs. I trust it can be 
done, but it is for the North to act now, and to do their part ; and 
if they fail, it will be then our duty to act. Pardon me for intrud- 
ing any opinions, but deeply impressed as I am with the critical 
stale of afi^airs in our country, from the circumstances to which I 
have alluded, I could not help speaking freely. 

I have written Gen. Cass I cannot remain here longer than next 
summer. I would have returned this winter, but for the extremely 
uncertain state of things in Europe, and I did not like to appear 
even indifferent to events that might happen, in which my country 
would feel a great stake ; I did not desire to follow any one personal 
interest or indulgence. 

Everything is still very doubtful in Europe, and the Congress 
will not make it more settled, I fear. 

If you have leisure, I should be happy to hear from you, at any 
time. 

Yours, very truly and sincerely, 

F. W. PICKENS. 
Hon. B. F. Perry. 



JAMES L ORR 



The sudden death of Governor Orr, within a few 
weeks after his arrival at the court of St. Petersburg as 
American Minister, was a great shock to his family and 
friends in South Carolina ; and I may well say to the 
people generally of the United States. He was exten- 
sively known throughout all the States, as a member of 
Congress, a Speaker of the House of Representatives ; 
and there were few public men of his time and age, who 
had more warm personal friends. He was so kind and 
generous in his nature, so cordial and conciliating in his 
manners, so unpretending and unassuming in his in- 
tercourse with his fellow-men, that it was difficult for 
any one, even a political opponent or enemy, to know^ 
him intimately without loving him. I knew him well 
for upward of thirty years ; we were generally opposed 
in politics, once rivals for poj^ular favor, and yet there 
were very few of all my friends and acquaintances for 
whom I had a more sincere friendship. He was bold, 
frank and open in all of his conduct, public and private. 

Governor Orr was a man of distinguished ability, 
and filled all the high positions to ^vliich he was elevated 
with credit to himself and honor to his country. As a 
member of the Legislature, a member of Congress, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senator of the 
Confederate States, Governor of South Carolina, Judge 
of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of the State, and Minister 
Plenipotentiary to the Russian Court, he distinguished 
himself for his ability, integrity, patriotism and impar- 
tiality. As a judge, he Avas eminently successful, with- 
out that learning and study in his profession which 
many of his predecessors on the bench possessed. I 



180 James L. Orr. 

liave often said that iu the course of more than forty 
years at the bar, I have never appeared before a judge 
who had more clearness of perception, greater wisdom 
in judgment, or more impartiahty and dispatch in the 
discharge of his judicial duties. His mind was practical 
and possessed a fimd of common sense rarely met with 
in great and learned men. He thoroughly understood 
human nature, and this knowledge was of vast import- 
ance to him in the administration of justice. Indeed, it 
was the key to his success through life. There are many 
men of great learning, and great talents, with great vir- 
tues, who never succeed in life, because they are un- 
acquainted with human nature, and have only a small 
modicum of common sense. Lock's form of govern- 
ment for South Carolina shows how utterly impracti- 
cable and useless may be all the wisdom and learning of 
a philosopher without common sense and a knowledge 
of mankind. 

As a wise, far-seeing and successful politician, I never 
knew the superior of Judge Orr. When first elected to 
Congress, and the only time he had opposition, he es- 
poused the cause of General Taylor, and secured the 
support of almost the entire Whig party, though he had 
been and still was a Democrat, but as soon as he entered 
Congress, and saw General Taylor, instead of acting with 
the XVhigs, he adhered to the Democratic party. Whilst 
in Congress, the State of South Carolina was for sepa- 
rate secession, and Governor Orr went with his State 
until he saw plainly that no other State would follow 
suit, if South Carolina did secede. With Judge Butler, 
Senator Barnwell and others, he then formed a co- 
operation party, and opposed with great ability the folly 
of separate State action. He had the sagacity to see 
that the time had not then arrived for the beginning of 
the Revolution. Whilst a Confederate Senator, he saw 
that our cause must inevitably fail, and he endeavored 
to get the Confederate States to treat for peace, whilst 
thev could make some terms. Wlien President John- 



James L. Ore. 181 

son's reconstruction was swept away, and Congress pro- 
posed a Convention in Soutli Carolina, to be elected by 
the negroes, Governor Orr saw that another reconstruc- 
tion was inevitable, and although at that time Governor 
of the State, and utterly opposed to unqualified negro 
suffrage, he cast his influence in favor of a convention. 
I preferred to see the State remain under military rule, 
forever, rather than have permanently established in 
South Carolina, " a negro, carpet-bag, scalawag govern- 
ment." I thought, too, it was bad enough to have such 
a government forced on us, and that we should not dis- 
honor ourselves by voting for it. Governor Orr foresaw 
that it must come, and thought it better policy to accept 
it ! But it is well to remember that General Canby's 
military government neither taxed us heavily, stole our 
money, nor robbed us, nor ran the State in debt ! 

Governor Orr addressed the " Ring, striped and 
speckled Convention" in Charleston, and gave them 
much wholesome advice. This condescension on his 
part was strongly commented on at that time, but it was 
salutary and wise. He tried to benefit the State, and at 
the same time kept in favor with the Radical party. In 
consequence of this conciliatory course on his part, he 
was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, whilst 
he was absent in the West. On his return home, he 
was hesitating as to his a(;ceptance of the office. Some of 
his friends wrote to me to exert my influence to induce 
him to accept the judgeship tendered him. In reply, 
I said that I was well aware of the importance of his 
accepting so far as the public were concerned, but that I 
could not, in my conscience, ask a friend, and a gentle- 
man, to do an act which at that time would dishonor 
him in the estimation of a large portion of the people of 
South Carolina. I said his conciliation of the Radical 
party had been attributed to improper motives, and I 
wished to see him stamp as false those insinuations, by 
refusing to accept the office. It was always wise, not 
only to act properly, but to act in such a way, if possible, 



182 James L. Ork. 

as to avoid the Imputation of impropriety. Governor Orr 
foresaw that all this prejudice must ultimately abate, and 
perhaps wear out. His notions of policy have proved 
superior to all my notions of honor. 

At the time Judge Orr went on the bench, the whole 
State was crushed with indebtedness, and most of the 
people were insolvent. With that boldness and fore- 
sight which ever characterized him, he charged the juries 
to find only one-half of the debts sued on ! I was 
shocked beyond measure, at this departure from law and 
principle, and said to the juries, that in so finding, they 
would disregard the law and commit perjury ! I carried 
the jury with me once or twice, but finally the policy 
outweighed principle and law. All the verdicts were 
rendered accordingly, and Judge Orr established, on the 
Eighth Circuit, the rule, that no creditor should collect 
more than one-half the del)t due him ! It may be said, 
perhaps, with truth, that the enforcement of this rule has 
proved beneficial to the best interests of the community. 
But it lias tended to demoralize public sentiment. 

I had many earnest conversations with Judge Orr 
before he went over to the Radical party. He said to 
me that it was important for prominent men to identify 
themselves with the Radicals for the purpose of con- 
trolling their action, and preventing mischief to the 
State. I replied to him that if you join a band of 
thieves you must act with them, or they would soon kick 
you out of their ranks. If you stole with them you 
would be as bad as they were, and if you did not, you 
would lose all influence over them. He thought differ- 
ently, and when he attempted a reform of the party, by 
the Bolters' Convention, T reminded him of what T had 
said. 

Although Judge Orr was emphatically a great poli- 
tician, and in no sense of the word a statesman, yet I 
knew that he had the good of his country at heart and 
would have done nothing to injure the State. He was 
imbitious, as all great mcu are, and always had an eye to 



James L. Orr. 183 

liis own success. But he would not have trampled on 
the rights and liberties of his country, to secure his own 
promotion. A statesman is always governed by prin- 
ciple, and will never sacrifice principle to policy. He is 
like an honest man, in private life, who would scorn the 
idea of gaining millions by dishonest policy. In ancient 
history, we are told that there was a proposition sub- 
mitted to a statesman who declared that nothing would 
be more beneficial to the State, and yet nothing more 
dishonorable ! The proposition was rejected at once. 
This was statesmanship, and not policy. 

As an interesting companion. Governor Orr had few 
equals. He was full of anecdotes and stories, and told 
them with great interestf. He made himself agreeable 
to all company, and in all society. I visited Washington 
before his election to the Speaker's chair, and there was 
no member of Congress more popular with all sections, 
than Colonel Orr. Whilst I was there, he was called to 
the chair, in committee of the whole House, and presided 
over that body for several days. He did so with so 
much ability, promptness and dispatch, tliat it Avas then 
determined to make him the next Speaker of the House. 
But when the election came on, all the members from 
South Carolina, except Governor Bonham, refused to be 
present and vote ! This defeated him. He wrote me a 
long letter the next day and lamented with deep feeling 
the conduct of his colleagues, who had no objection to 
him, but did not think it proper for any South Caro- 
linian, at that time to accept Federal office ! At the 
meeting of the next Congress, he was elected Speaker, 
and no one ever presided over the House with more 
ability, dispatch and impartiality, than did Governor 
Orr. I may also add that no one in the Speaker's chair 
ever gave greater satisfaction to the members. Governor 
Orr at that time was a very young man, to fill the third 
highest office in the United States, and I know that it 
was then confidently predicted that he would some day 
fill the first office under the government of the United 



184 James L. Okr. 

States. He \Nas spoken of as a candidate for tlie Presi- 
dency in the National Nominating Convention, which 
assembled in Charleston in 1860 — a candidate on whom 
all Democrats might harmonize. 

Soon after my appointment as Provisional Governor, 
Judge Orr, in company with several other gentlemen, 
went with me to Washington. In Richmond it was 
proposed to take a steamboat and go by the way of 
Fortress Monroe. To this Judge Orr objected most 
positively, and said that he had no idea of going by that 
Confederate Prison, for he might very soon be sent 
there, and he did not wish to see the place. He re- 
quested me in Washington to urge on the President the 
issuing of his pardon innnediately. He said he was 
afraid the old fellow might die and his promise would 
be forgotten. The President told me the Northern 
editors were watching him like hawks, and if it went 
forth that he had pardoned, so soon, a Confederate Sena- 
tor, it would be used to his prejudice. He said, " Tell 
Colonel Orr to go home, and I will send him a pardon 
when your State Convention meets.'' Punctual to his 
promise, the President sent me the pardon. When I 
handed it to Governor Orr, he requested two or three of 
his friends to go with him to his room, and told them, 
with a serious face, that he had just received a paper, 
and wished to consult them as to his propriety of his ac- 
cepting the same. They thought of course it was a chal- 
lenge, and they began to think of reasons which w^ould 
justify a refusal to accept it. When the paper was read, 
they gave it as their opinion that he was bound to ac- 
cept. Judge Orr and myself were going to Spartan- 
burg shortly after his election as governor. We had 
stopped on the roadside to take a lunch, when a little 
boy came up. We gave him a part, of our dinner, and 
found the little fellow quite sharp and somewhat inquisi- 
tive. At last Governor Orr asked him if he had ever 
seen two live governors at one time. He replied that 
he had never seen one governor in his life. Governor 



James L. Oke. 185 

Orr told him that we were both governors. The boy 
replied, ^^ You can't fool me that way," and left us with 
entire incredulity. I once heard Colonel Chestnut say 
that he was traveling through Virginia and stopped to 
take a lunch under the shade of a chestnut tree, when a 
countryman came up and partook of his lunch, and also 
a glass of brandy. As they were about separating the 
countryman said he would like to know his name. The 
colonel replied that his name was Chestnut. The old 
man ^aid, " Come, don't poke your fun at me ; you have 
been very kind, and I really wish to know your name." 
He was as incredulous as the Spartanburg boy. 

Governor Orr was an able debater, and spoke well. 
He had a clear, sharp, ringing voice, and always fluent 
as a public speaker. On the stump he was very efficient, 
and had a fund of anecdotes which he told well. When 
Governor Means was reviewing the militia in this Con- 
gressional District, and making speeches in favor of se- 
cession. Governor Orr, who was then a co-operation 
candidate for the proposed Southern Convention, com- 
pletely took the wind out of his sails by his little bull 
story, which I have frequently mentioned, and will now 
repeat : There was an engine and train of cars passing 
through an old field, where a number of cattle were 
grazing. A little bull seeing the engine coming towards 
him, he pitched into it for a fight. The engine passed 
over him, and he was crushed to pieces. The cars were 
stopped, the passengers got out. An old gentleman 
walked up to the bull and said, " I admire your spirit, 
but damn your judgment." Governor Means spoke 
after the mustering was over, but Governor Orr would 
always steal a march on him and speak before the mus- 
tering commenced, and when the people were fresh and 
more willing to listen. 

Governor Orr was a very fine-looking gentleman, tall, 
well proportioned, and commanding in his appearance. 
He presided in court, and over the House of Repre- 
sentatives in Congress with great dignity and firmness. 
But when he left the bench or speaker's chair, there was 



186 James L. Ore. 

no one more familiar and easy in his manners. He was 
a true son of nature and one of nature's noblemen. He 
was careless in liis dress^ and did not cultivate the graces. 
There was nothing artificial about him. Frank, open 
and unpretending in his deportment, always in a good 
humor and cordial in his manners. 

I went with Governor Orr as a delegate to attend the 
Philadelphia Convention in 1866. This was the first 
opportunity he had, after the close of the w^ar, of meeting 
his northern friends and quondam associates in Congress. 
I Avitnessed the cordiality with which they all greeted 
him and heard their expressions of sincere regard and ad- 
miration for him as a public man and private gentle- 
man. I was satisfied that there was no Southern man, 
at that time, who possessed greater popularity than he 
did, wdth the Northern and Western people. His popu- 
larity, however, with the Democratic party, was after- 
wards greatly impaired, by his affiliation with the Re- 
publican party. It was a sore thing with the North- 
western Democracy to see their leader and speaker aban- 
doning their cause and principles, when they were sinking 
into a lean minority for u])holding and sympathizing 
with the South. 

In the Philadelphia Republican Convention of 1872, 
for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the Presi- 
dency, Judge Orr w^as a delegate from South Carolina, 
and made a speech defending President Grant for his 
Ku-klux prosecutions, which gave great ofience to the 
people of his State. They thought it most unkind in an 
honored South Carolinian, to justify the military oppres- 
sion and tyranny of his native State. But this speech 
gave him great favor with General Grant, who soon 
manifested a disposition to rcAvard him. The mission to 
the Argentine Republic Avas immediately afterwards 
tendered him. Governor Orr shoAved me the letter of 
Secretary Fish tendering the mission the morning after 
he received it. I said to him, you certainly have no 
idea of accepting it. It is only a half mission, and to an 



James L. Orr. 187 

outlandish, lialf-civilized people. He replied, liow am I 
to live ? The State will not pay my salary, and I have 
no money. I thought at that time he was disgusted 
with his political position in South Carolina, and his 
political associates, and was anxious to get rid of them. 
He saw failure inevitable in his bolting movement, and 
that he could no longer exercise a controlling influence 
over the Radical party in South Carolina. The mission 
to Russia was soon afterwards tendered him by Presi- 
dent Grant, without any consultation with his cabinet. 
This reached him in bad health, and he accepted it, most 
unfortunately. The cold climate of Russia proved too 
severe for his delicate health. Had he remained in 
South Carolina he might have lived for many years, and 
high honors would yet have awaited him. 

I do not deem it necessary to give a biographical 
sketch of Judge Orr. The newspapers of the State have 
already done this at great length and with great minute- 
ness. There was one characteristic of Judge Orr which 
I will not omit to mention, although I am neither 
writing a sketch of his life or character, properly speak- 
ing. He was a gentleman of unbounded hospitality, 
both at home and in Washington. He delighted to see 
his friends and have them around him. In Washing- 
ton, whilst Speaker, his entertainments were numerous, 
elegant and luxurious. At home his house was always 
filled with his friends. During court at Anderson, 
when it was impossible for the judges and lawyers to 
dine with him, he always made it a point to have them 
at his house in the evening after the adjournment of 
court, where they never failed to spend their time most 
pleasantly indeed. No one ever took more pleasure in 
serving a friend, or what was a much higher Christian 
virtue, in forgiving an enemy, than Judge Orr. I can- 
not, in my judgment, pay a higher tribute of respect to 
his heart. Sad, very sad, indeed, is his death, cut off in 
the prime of his manhood, and in the midst of his bril- 
liant career oi' usefulness and distinction. If he had 



188 James L. Orr. 

faults and foibles like other great men, they lie buried 
in the love and affection of his countrymen. The last 
conversation I had with Judge Orr, he expressed a wish 
that he might die suddenly, and said he never repeated 
that portion of the Episcopal service which asked to be 
preserved from sudden death. 



DAVID L SWAIN. 

There were few public men in North Carolina for the 
last half of a century so universally popular with all 
parties and all classes of persons as Governor Swain. No 
one ever rose to distinction in the good old North State 
so rapidly, and filled so many high offices in so short a 
time as he did. He was unanimously elected a member 
of the Legislature by the people of Buncombe, imme- 
diately after his admission to the Bar. Before he had 
finished his term in the Legislature, he was elected solici- 
tor of one of the most important law circuits in the State. 
He resigned this office in a year or two, and was elected 
a circuit judge. He had been on the bench only a few 
years, when he was elected Governor of the State almost 
unanimously by the Legislature. There was an angry 
contest between the two aspirants for the executive chair, 
when they both withdrew in favor of Judge Swain. He 
was elected without solicitation, and almost without his 
knowledge. As soon as his Gubernatorial term expired, 
he was elected, by the Legislature, President of the North 
Carolina University, at Chapel Hill. This election gave 
rise to a famous witticism of one of the waggish members 
of the Legislature. Governor Swain had not had a col- 
legiate education. His classical studies were completed 
at the Asheville Academy, in Buncombe County, North 
Carolina. After the result of the election was announced, 
that his Excellency Governor Swain had been chosen by 
the Legislature, to fill the learned position of President 
of the State University, this member exclaimed : " Well ! 
having given him every high office in the State, the 



190 David L. Swatn. 

Legislature lia.s now sent him to Cliapel Hill to be edu- 
cated." 

I was sent to school at Asheville in 1822, and there I 
met David L. Swain. He was then a student in the 
academy, and in appearance a grown man, though I sup- 
pose he was not over nineteen or t^venty years old. He 
was about as awkward and gawky a young gentleman as 
I had ever met. He was six feet two inches in height, 
slender and ill-shaped, with a long pale face, thick lips, 
sharp nose, and dull expression of the eyes. The boys 
all loved him most affectionately. He was an accom- 
plished Latin and Greek scholar, and took great pleasure 
in reading for the younger students any hard sentence 
which they came across in their lessons. I remember 
with what pleasure I listened to his reading of Homer, 
with a sort of musical drawl, that to me, w^as sweet and 
charming. He was the most amiable and best tempered 
young man I ever saw, and punctiliously honorable. He 
was without a vice of any kind, and I believe he lived 
so through life. He was grave and serious, and yet 
warm-hearted and cordial. I doubt whether he ever 
gave offence to a human being. I am sure he never did 
intentionally. He was a hard student and had a line 
memory. His progress, therefore, in his studies, Avas 
almost as rapid as his rise in public life. He left our 
academy, and tutor, the Reverend Mr. Porter, for the 
purpose of entering Chapel Hill University. He arrived 
there two or three weeks before the commencement of 
the session, and spent his time with the professors and in 
reading. Finally he concluded not to enter college, but 
go on to Raleigh, and read law. He thought he could 
not wait two years before commencing his legal studies, 
and, moreover, he was under the impression that he was 
about as good a scholar as any of the professors. 

I was boarding in the family of the Governor's father 
at Asheville, whilst David w^as reading law in Raleigh. 
The old gentleman was postmaster, doctor, and carried on 
a hat manufactory. He was a well educated and intelli- 



David L. Swain. 191 

geDt old geiitlemau, proud of his son, aiid had great ex- 
pectations and hopes of his distinction in Hfe. Doctor 
Swain Avas a native of Massachusetts, married a widow 
lady in Georgia, and settled at Asheville, North Carolina. 
He was a most excellent man and a pious Christian. 
His memory was wonderful. He forgot nothing that he 
saw, heard or read. He could recall where he was, any 
day, forty or fifty years since. The doctor took great 
pleasure in reading David's letters to me and others, 
whilst he was studying law at Raleigh. They were 
always interesting too. The Governor had, in youth, as 
well as in old age, an inquiring philosophical mind, ob- 
serving ever}i:hing, and finding out the cause of every- 
thing. He had, too, a very happy faculty of retaining 
what he had seen, or heard, or read, or found out. 

Whilst reading law at the capital of the State, Gover- 
nor Swain became engaged to a young lady of that city, 
whom he afterwards married. This induced him to give 
up his native mountain home where he was the loved 
idol of the people, and live in Raleigh. After his elec- 
tion to the Presidency of the University of North Caro- 
lina, he moved to Chapel Hill of course, and there con- 
tinued to reside till his death. He was, I think, thirty 
years at the head of this institution of learning. I re- 
member he once wrote me that the University had been 
in existence over a half century, and had had but two 
Presidents, President Caldwell and himself Whilst he 
was President of the University, the Legislature came 
very near electing him United States Senator. This was 
without his consent, and I do not suppose he would have 
accepted the position had he been elected. But it shows 
his acceptability to the Legislature for any office within 
their gift, when they could not agree on any one else. 

Governor Swain was a man of great learning as well 
as great ability. With his wonderful memory, and habits 
of studying from his youth, he could not have been other- 
wise than learned. His administration in the govern- 
ment of the college, was very successfiil. Perhaps there 



192 David L. Swain. 

was no college iu the United States where fewer difficul- 
ties occurred in its government. He told me, that when 
he entered on his duties as President, he told the pro- 
fessors that he should never make a question without be- 
ing pretty sure he was right, but whether right or wrong, 
they must sustain him. The harmonious and successful 
government of the college required this sacrifice on their 
part. 

After leaving school at Asheville, Governor Swain and 
myself saw nothing of each other for many years. One 
evening in Columbia, a servant came to my room, and 
told me that there was a gentleman in a carriage at the 
door who wished to see me. The hotel was full, and he 
had to seek lodgings somewhere else, but wished to speak 
to me before going off. Not expecting to see my old 
schoolmate, I did not recognize the Governor until he 
made himself known to me. Thin I saw at once, in the 
old man, those well-marked features, which characterized 
the young student from whom I had parted twenty-five 
or thirty years ago. I said he must not leave the hotel, 
and I would provide a room for him in some w^ay. This 
I did, and we spent a delightful evening in talking over 
the events which had transpired since we had last seen 
each other. 

From the time of this meeting in Columbia we corre- 
sponded frequently, and occasionally met again. The 
Governor was a strong Union man up to the breaking 
out of the civil war. He then heartily took sides with 
his State and section. • After the war was over he de- 
plored deeply the unjust and tyrannical legislation of 
Congress, and concurred with me in all that I said or did 
on the subject of reconstruction. He wrote a series of 
able articles addressed to me in one of the North Carolina 
newspapers, on the test oath, disfranchisement, etc., etc. 

In November, 1866, I h|d the pleasure of receiving 
from Governor Swain, a very long letter, nine pages, and 
from which I will make a few extracts : '^ It is not veiy 
difficult to deciide the character of our representatives if 



David L. Swain. 193 

this rule shall be forced upou lis. Let us inquire for a 
moment who will be excluded. Take your State for an 
example. From early life to the present time, I have 
had opportunities to know something of your leading 
men. I knew Mr. Pettigru personally, met him in 
Charleston in February, 1861, corresponded with him 
during the entire period of the war, and to within two or 
three weeks of his death. Regarded him when living, 
and remember him now that he is no more, as one of the 
ablest and purest men I have ever knoAvn. I cannot say 
that if he was alive, he could not take the test oath, but 
I can affirm with great confidence, that imder no circum- 
stances would he do it. My personal knowledge of you 
extends through nearly half a century. We were school- 
mates and intimate friends in early life, and at all subse- 
quent periods, I have been familiar with your history. 
Without entering into details that might be offensive to 
your delicacy, I can say with confidence, that investiga- 
tion will establish tlife fact beyond controversy, that from 
the first avowal of nullification by Mr. Calhoun, in his 
letter to General Hamilton, until the secession of your 
State, no member of the committee, not even excepting 
Senator Johnson, of Maryland, had ever been placed in 
circumstances that required or admitted the constant, un- 
flinching, hazardous devotion to the Union, and opposi- 
tion to nullification and secession, which have character- 
ized the whole course of your political life. President 
Johnson, in 1826-27, resided in Laurens, the adjoining 
district to Greenville in your State, and few persons be- 
yond the limits of South Carolina are as familiar as he, 
or sympathized as deeply as he in the conflicts which you 
waged during so many years in behalf of the Union. 
You cannot take the oath, and Avhat I aflirm in relation 
to those in North Carolina who can, will not apply with 
less force to South Carolina. You have no honest and 
competent men who can submit to a test of loyalty, which 
is, in my estimation, as clearly unconstitutional as inex- 
pedient. 



194 David L. Swain. 

And yet we are told, uo doubt honestly on the part of 
many who say so, that a range of confiscation, which has 
no parallel in the history of civilization since the days of 
William the Conqueror, is a mild punishment for Con- 
federate treason. The descendants of Shay rebellionists, 
whisky insurrectionists, and Hartford conventionists, can 
afford to be merciful if not magnanimous. We are as- 
sured moreover, with equal honesty and sincerity, that 
Southern statesmen should consent to their exclusion 
from office with exultation, as aifording an opportunity 
to open the way to office and emolument, to those, who, 
under other circumstances, would never have been thought 
of by themselves or others in connection with official 
station. John Quincy Adams, you may remember, en- 
tertained and expressed on a memorable occasion very 
different sentiments. Where, with a view to censure Mr. 
Webster, a Pennsylvania representative offered a resolu- 
tion calling upon the President for information as to the 
manner in which the secret service fund had been ex- 
pended. Mr. Adams expressed a willingness to vote for 
it if the member would avow that his purpose was to 
impeach Mr. Webster as Secretary of State. In reply to 
the suggestion that Mr. Webster was not then in office, 
and not subject to impeachment, Mr. Adams remarked, 
in substance, that he understood the Constitution very 
differently, that he had arrived at that time of life, when, 
with the exception of the station he then held, he had 
nothing to expect or desire at the hands of his country- 
men, but that he had filled the highest office in their 
gift, and that for any malfeasance in office, he was still 
amenable to impeachment and, a punishment that he 
would regard as worse than death, disqualification to hold 
office. That sentence is proposed to be passed upon you 
under an amendment of the Constitution to be adopted, 
with about as much regard to the spirit of the mode 
pointed out in that instrument, as would characterize the 
formality of an impeachment of our friend Governor 
Graham, for some misdemeanor yet to be discovered, 



David L. Swain. 195 

committed ^vllile Secretary of the Navy, without a pre- 
liminary finding by the House of Representatives as the 
great inquest of the nation. I hazard little in saying 
that if you and he had been admitted to your seats in the 
Senate, a wiser scheme of adjustment would have been 
adopted, and one much more favorable to the true Union 
men of the South than the Howard Amendment.'' 

In July, 1867, Governor Swain wrote me as follows : 
" I am the only person in North Carolina, trebly dis- 
franchised, having served in all the departments of the 
State Government, Legislative, Judiciary and Executive. 
As I remarked to a northern friend, some time since, 
the poor privilege is denied me of voting for my own 
slaves, and they are not allowed to vote for me, while 
two of them now in my employment have higher claims 
to my confidence, as discreet and benevolent men, than 
Stephens and Sumner, or Butler and Ijogan. But what 
can we do ? Literally, nothing but hope for a returning 
sense of justice from the northern people. * * * * 
I mentioned in a note to Mrs. Perry, some time since, 
that Mr. Johnson, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Randall, were 
Mrs. Swain's guests at commencement. Governor Worth 
was with us also, and General Sickles was the guest of 
our neighbor. Dr. Hubbard. I spent a day with Gen. 
Sickles, at the residence of Governor Worth, in Raleigh, 
before the party came up here, and think we are fortunate 
in having him as our chief, though I desired General 
Schofield, with whom I had had personal interviews very 
shortly after the surrender of the Confederate armies. 
General Sickles was Secretary of Legation, when Mr. 
Buchanan was nominated to the Court of St. James, and 
adheres to the opinions that he had at that time." 

In character. Governor Swain was very much like the 
great William Lowndes, of South Carolina. He was 
unambitious, amiable and pure. He never sought office, 
but had all the high offices of his State thrust on him in 
rapid succession by the Legislature of North Carolina. 



196 David L. Swain. 

In wisdom, ability, aud talents, he was also like Mr. 
Lowndes, and not unlike him in his personal appearance. 
Had he been in Congress, his reputation as a statesman 
would have been as widespread, as deep rooted, and as 
gloriously en\dable as that of South Carolina's illustrious 
sons. 



JOHN S. RICHARDSON, 

I prepared a sketch of Judge Richardson for " the 
XlXth Century/' but unfortunately, that periodical was 
discontinued before its publication, and I have not been 
able to recover the manuscript. Nor can I, now, repro- 
duce the article from memory in its fullness and justice. 
But my great respect for the memory of this distinguished 
gentleman, will not permit me to omit him in my Remi- 
niscences of Public Men. 

Judge Richardson was well calculated to inspire feel- 
ings of kindness and friendship in all who w^ere so for- 
tunate as to become intimately acquainted mth him. He 
was a man of high and pure character, warm and cordial 
in his feelings, disinterested and devoted in his friend- 
ship. He had the courage of a true chevalier in his 
nature, with the polished manners of a Carolina gentle- 
man of the old school. His talents and ability were of 
a high order, united with great practical good sense and 
wisdom. I knew him intimately before our political 
party organizations in South Carolina, and had, for him, 
very great respect. He became a bold uncompromising 
Union man, and this increased our intimacy, and threw 
us more frequently together. How little did we then 
think it was possible for that Federal Union to become a 
foul and loathsome monster of tyranny and oppression. 
But it is not that grand Union of States, or that beautiful 
Republican system of government, under which we live, 
that has disgraced the civilization of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, legahzed corruption, and established an odious, ig- 
norant, polluted tyranny in the Southern States. No ! 
This has been the work of the corrupt and fiendish 



198 John S. Richardson. 

scoundrels into whose hands the administration of the 
government has fallen. 

Judge Richardson was, for many years, a leading 
member of the House of Representatives of South Car- 
olina, Speaker of the House, and Attorney-General of 
the State. He told me that he was elected Speaker very 
much against his feelings and wishes. He was at the 
time candidate for Attorney-General, and did not desire 
the Speakership. As Attorney-General, he was able and 
eminent in the discharge of his official duties. His great 
powers of analysis in debate showed pre-eminent. But 
as a judge amongst his learned compeers and associates, 
he was not so conspicuous. He did not like the dull 
routine of labor on the bench, taking down testimony, 
ruling points of evidence, listening to long, dull argu- 
ments of counsel, making out reports of cases, etc. This 
feeling and indisposition increased on him with age, and 
the bar became dissatisfied with his want of interest in 
the discharge of his judicial labors. An effort was made 
a few years previous to his death, to remove him from 
the bench, for want of capacity and failure of physical 
strength to perform the arduous duties of a circuit judge. 
He was called before the House of Representatives, and 
made an address in reply to the charges brought against 
him. His defence Avas a most triumphant one, and he 
show^ed that he had far more ability than any member of 
the House Avho charged him with a want of capacity. 
The impeachment was voted down by an overwhelming 
majority. 

Judge Richardson had a very clear mind, and was very 
dexterous in debate. He was not only a wise man, but 
a far-seeing man, and one of extended views in politics. 
He would have made a great statesman, and a most suc- 
cessful politician. He had great tact, and was very 
adroit in management. Whilst on the bench, he was 
elected a member of Congress, and it would have been 
well for his fame and distinction, had he accepted the 
position, and turned his attention exclusively to politics. 



John S. Richardson. 199 

He could not have failed to make his mark iu the history 
of his country. In speaking of Mexico, some years be- 
fore his death, he expressed the hope that the whole of 
that country might be annexed to the United States. He 
also desired to take Cuba and Canada into the American 
Union. " Theu/^ said he, " we shall be the first power 
in the world.'' 

Judge Richardson was a bold man morally and physi- 
cally, as well as intellectually. It was once his unpleasant 
duty as a judge, to pass sentence on Colonel Bouham, a 
gallant spirit, who afterwards fell like a knight of ro- 
mance, at the Alamo, for an assault and battery on a 
brother lawyer, at Pickens Court House. In his written 
sentence (the colonel not being present) he made some 
withering remark about the want of chivalry, in attack- 
ing an unarmed man, with pistol and horse- whip. When 
the sentence was opened and read in court, the colonel 
was very much excited, and imprudently wrote the judge 
a note stating that he was too old a man for him to chal- 
lenge, but that he would pull his nose on sight. The 
judge replied in very polite terms saying that he was 
altogether mistaken in supposing him too old to fight. 
He was just the right fighting age, and would be happy 
to accept his challenge, and give him that satisfaction 
which his wounded honor might demand. This was a 
poser to the hot-headed colonel, and he replied that he 
should pursue his own course in seeking redress. Shortly 
after this the judge came to Anderson to hold court, 
where Colonel Bonham resided. Some one had written 
him a letter, stating that the colonel would attack him 
on his arrival at that place. After supper Sunday even- 
ing, before court, the judge invited me to his room and 
told me what had been written to him. He then wished 
to know if I did not think " he could lick the colonel in 
case the assault was made." He said he would not carry 
a pistol or think of using one. He had a small walking 
stick which was the only weapon he desired. I told him, 
as to their relative manhood, in a fisticuff, I thought the 



200 John S. Richardson. 

colonel would get the better of him. This he doubted, 
and said that he was still very active and vigorous in a 
scuffle. But no attack was made on him, as I felt 
assured there would not be. I heard a gentleman say 
that, a short time before this, he witnessed the judge's 
vigor and activity in a scuffle at Sumter, when his son 
Maynard was attacked by a mob. The judge rushed 
into the crowd and used his umbrella right and left most 
dexterously and effectually. 

Judge Richardson once told me, that he had been 
elected a member of the Legislature, Speaker of the House, 
Attorney-General, Judge, and member of Congress, but 
that none of these elections had ever given him so much 
pleasure and heartfelt satisfaction as being elected ensign 
of a militia company in Charleston, when he was first 
setting out in life. The election Avas contested, and they 
had three hard canvasses before the matter was finally 
settled. He said it gave him a relish for elections and 
electioneering, which he never lost in after-life. In our 
Union and nullification campaigns, the Judge was a great 
manager, and seemed really to delight in forming plans 
for our struggle in every district in the State. He was a 
member of the State Convention in the days of nullifica- 
tion, and had been stump-speaking with Governor Mc- 
Duffie the preceding summer. There had been some 
sparring between them, and in the convention the Gov- 
ernor replied, not very courteously, to some remarks of 
the judge. They did not strike me, however, as calling 
for any special notice. I saw, however, the judge was a 
good deal nettled, and he came to where I was sitting, 
and asked my counsel as to his noticing what had been 
said. I dissuaded him from replying. He said, if your 
purpose is simply to keep me out of an altercation which 
may lead to a difficulty, I shall not heed your advice. 
But if you say upon your word as a true chevalier, that 
neither honor nor duty to our party requires me to notice 
the remarks, I will be governed by your judgment. 



John S. Richardson. 201 

Judge Richardson was a most sociable and charming 
companion. On the circuit he delighted in chatting with 
the lawyers of an evening after the adjournment of court, 
and was always pleased to have a circle around him at 
the fireside in the hotels. He talked well, and was a 
great dialectician. He could argue any question with 
great plausibility. The character of his mind was very 
much like that of Mr. Poinsett, and I think I have heard 
them say that they were distantly related. He was a 
small man with thin* features, and a bright beaming 
countenance. He was quite an old man at his death, 
was taken sick on the circuit, and went to his son's in 
Charleston, where he died. He was born in Sumter Dis- 
trict and lived in the same neighborhood with the first 
and second Governor Richardson, but was not related at 
all to that family. He was, as I have heard Governor 
Manning say, a most kind and excellent neighbor, an in- 
dulgent master, and liberal and charitable. 

How delightful it is to recall the memories of our pub- 
lic men in South Carolina, and review their high and pure 
characters and polished manners. For nearly two hun- 
dred years previous to our late civil war, there was 
scarcely a spot or blemish on the escutcheon of a single 
public man in South Carolina. All were pure, highly 
gifted, educated, polished, and incorruptible. The susj)i" 
cion of bribery and corruption was unknown to the thou- 
sands and tens of thousands of Carolina gentlemen who 
were honored with seats in our Legislature during the 
past two centuries. The office of Governor, Judge, Sen- 
ator, and representative in Congress, was always bestowed 
on the wisest, best, and most talented of the land. They 
loved their State, and guarded her honor as they did that 
of a mother. 



JOHN BELTON O'NEALL 

John Belton O'Neall, Chief Justice of South Carolina, 
was a citizen of Greenville for many years in the latter 
part of his life. He purchased a valuable farm on South 
Tyger River, fifteen miles above the city of Greenville. 
This farm, in the early settlement of Greenville, had be- 
longed to Col. John Thomas, a distinguished officer of the 
American Revolution, and his remains lie buried there. 
It Avas afterwards purchased by Judge Edwards, of the 
County Court, where he lived a great many years, and 
died. Judge O'Neall likewise owned a valuable planta- 
tion in Newberry District, which he inherited from a 
maternal uncle, after whom he was named. He resided 
on his Newberry plantation in the winter, and came to 
Greenville in the summer. He was greatly respected 
and loved by his neighbors in Greenville. No public 
man in South Carolina has left behind him a purer or 
more unsullied character than Chief Justice O'Neall. He 
had none of the faults or foibles which are sometimes 
found in the character of our greatest men. He was, in 
the language of General Harry Lee, describing General 
Marion, " pure all over.'' By nature he was warm- 
hearted, generous and confiding. Like General Jackson, 
he never deserted a friend, however much that friend 
may have erred. There are few men in South Carolina 
who have done more good and less evil than John Belton 
O'Neall. His organ of destructiveness was very strong, 
whilst those of conscientiousness and veneration were 
equally developed. Hence he made war all his life 
against every species of immoifality, dishonor, vice and 
crime. His organ of combativeness, without conscien- 



John Belton O'Neall. 203 

tiousness and veneration, would have made him a dan- 
gerous man. But he had a well-balanced head, and 
therefore his strong developments made him a noble, 
model man, moralist, Christian, patriot and philanthro- 
pist. His intellect was of high order, and his memory 
was wonderful. His industry and perseverance were 
unsurpassed throughout his long and honorable life, in 
every pursuit and undertaking in which he engaged. I 
once heard a gentleman say to him, that he had no doubt 
his ambition was to die seated on the bench, amidst the 
trial of some great cause in court. Whilst presiding on 
the circuit bench, no one ever mistook his charge to the 
jury, or doubted which side he took in the trial of a case. 
His clear, discriminating mind and unerring judgment 
saw at once the true points of the case and its justice. He 
never failed to boldly express his opinions to the jury. In 
the trial of a slander case, at Spartanburg, he said to the 
plaintiff's attorney, after the case closed, " It is well for 
your client that he is not on his trial for the larceny im- 
puted to him by the defendant, and for which he has 
brought his action of slander." I heard a distinguished 
lawyer say that if a corrupt judge were to take sides in 
the trial of a case as Judge O'Neall did, he would be 
shot before he finished his circuit. But every one had 
such confidence in O'NealFs purity that no offence was 
taken at his charges, although wrong. This, however, 
was very seldom. I remem])er once opening my case 
to the jury with a statement of what I expected to prove, 
when Judge O'Neall promptly said : " If that is your 
case, it is not worth while to introduce any testimony, 
for I charge the jury to find against you.'' His confi- 
dence in the bar was very great. In returning from my 
home in the mountains, I called at his residence on South 
Tyger, with a bundle of Equity papers. He gave me a 
newspaper to read some article, and began to look^over 
my papers and saw one endorsed, '^ Decree." Without 
reading the bill or answer, or report of the Commissioner 
or decree itself, he deliberately signed his name to it, and 



r 



204 John Belton O'Nkall. 

folded lip tlie papers and handed tlieni to me. His love 
of work drew from Judge Butler the following witti- 
cism : Going out of his room one day in Columbia whilst 
the Court of Appeals was sitting, Judge Butler locked 
his door. One of the Judges said, " Why do you lock 
your door ?" Butler replied : " O'NealFs room is next 
to mine, and I am afraid he will go in in my absence and 
write all the opinions I have to deliver for me." 

Judge O'Neall has frequently told me that when a 
boy he was placed in his father's store where spirits were 
retailed. It became his duty to play tapster for some 
time, and the disgusting scenes he then witnessed made 
a deep impression on his youthful mind. His father 
became intemperate and lost his fortune and his mind. 
He was afterwards restored to his senses and to temper- 
ance, and lived to a great old age, .respected and venerated 
by all who knew him. In riding the Eastern Circuit 
after his election to the bench, he stopped at a hotel very 
much fatigued and called for a glass of spirits. The 
landlord told him that gentlemen so seldom drank now- 
adays, he did not keep spirits. This expression " that 
gentlemen seldom drank " brought the blush to his face, 
and he determined never to expose himself again to snch 
a rebuke, so innocently given. 

At his death, the Judge supposed himself to possess a 
fortune, and made several Idnd behests to his friends and 
persons in humble circumstances. But his kindness, 
confidence and friendship induced him to go security for 
many persons, which ultimately swallowed up his estate. 

Chief Justice O'Neall was born in Newberry, South 
Carolina, on the 10th of April, 1793. His parents were 
Quakers, and of Irish extraction. His great grandfather 
belonged to the ancient house of O'Neall, of Sh one's 
Castle, Antrim, Ireland. He was put at school Avhen 
only five years old, and learned rapidly. The first book 
he read was the " Pilgrim's Progress," which gave him 
a taste for reading, and he read with great avidity every 
thing he could lay his hands on. He acquired the habit 



John Belton O'Neall. 205 

of exteniporaneous speakiDg by practicing to speak every 
Dight^ after he liad got his lesson for the next day, before 
his uncle and grandfather. In February, 1811, he 
entered the junior class of the South Carolina College, 
and graduated with the second honor of that Institution. 
After graduating he taught in the Newberry Academy 
for six months. Then he commenced the study of law 
in the office of John Caldwell, Esq., but soon volunteered 
his ser\dces in the war with Great Britain, and was ap- 
pointed Judge Advocate in the brigade of General Star- 
ling Tucker. In 1814 he was admitted to the practice of 
law and equity, and opened his office in the village of 
Newberry. He soon had a large share of the business in 
court. About this time he was elected captain of a vol- 
unteer company of artillery. In 1816 he was elected a 
member of the House of Representatives from Newberry 
District. He voted to iu crease the judges' salaries, and 
was defeated at the next election. In 1816 he was ap- 
pointed one of Governor Pickens' aids, with the rank of 
Lieutenant Colonel. He was elected next year a member 
of the Board of Trustees of his Alma Mater, and con- 
tinued to fill that honorable position through his life. 
In 1818 he married Miss Helen Pope, daughter of Cap- 
tain Sampson Pope, of Edgefield. He was again returned 
a member of the Legislatiu-e in 1822, and in 1824 was 
elected speaker of the House without opposition. He 
was re-elected as long as he contined a member of that 
body, and no one ever discharged the onerous duties of 
that office with greater ability. He had a fine voice, and 
read with wonderful facility the worst of manuscript. 
He presided with great dignity, and despatched promptly 
the business of the House. In the militia he rose to the 
rank of major-general, and passed through all the grades 
of offices below, from that of captain. In 1828 he was 
beaten for the Legislature in consequence of his favoring 
the Randolj^h opposition. He was, however, imme- 
diately afterwards elected Associate Judge, and in 1830 
was elected a Judge of the Court of Appeals. He dis- 



206 John Belton O'Neall. 

charged the duties of these high positions with great 
learning and abihty. In 1846 the degree of LL. D. was 
conferred on him by the Cohimbia College, in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and the like compliment was likewise 
paid him by other colleges. 

In 1847, Judge O'Neall was elected President of the 
Greenville and Columbia Railroad Company, and by his 
unfaltering devotion he succeeded in completing that 
great route for the whole upper country of South Caro- 
lina. In 1832 he abandoned the use of spirituous 
liquors, and commenced lecturing on temperance. His 
services in this field were of great benefit to society, and 
many a drunkard was reformed under his teacliing. The 
judge has written two works of great interest to the 
people of South Carolina: "The Bench and Bar,'' and 
"The Annals of Newberry.'' He has also written and 
published a great many political articles, addresses and 
orations. His reputation as a public speaker and orator 
is, however, much higher than that of a writer. He was 
truly eloquent on many occasions, at the bar, in the 
Legislature, and before popular assemblies. The State is 
greatly indebted to him for his able, assiduous and life- 
long services in the cause of religion, morality, education, 
and all public improvements. As a judge, no one 
equaled him in the dispatch of business. He seemed to 
love labor. Judge O'Neall was a most devout and zeal- 
ous member of the Baptist church for a great number of 
years before his death. 

I became acquainted with Judge O'Neall early in life. 
He was a strong Union man, and our political associa- 
tions produced an intimacy and friendship which lasted 
as long as he lived. He was a warm-hearted, generous, 
noble gentleman, ever ready to serve a friend or relieve 
any one in distress. In his manners he was plain, simple 
and unaffected. He never treated any one with rude- 
ness, but received all kindly and courteously. In com- 
pany he was cheerful and agreeable, fond of telling 
anecdotes and amusing his friends. At the reorgani- 



John Belton O'Neall. 207 

zation of the courts in South Caroliua, he was elected 
Chief Justice, which high and dignified position he filled 
for several years previous to his death, with great ability. 
He deeply regretted the war, and I think the misfortunes 
of his country had something to do with the hastening 
his death. 

In the maturity of his manhood he lost in a very short 
time all of his loved and promising children except one. 
She, too, preceded him to the grave, but left descendants 
who may well be proud of their honored and noble an- 
cestor. His venerable widow, in his own language, 
"the loved companion of his joys and sorrows,'' still 
survives. 



BENJAMIN FANEUIL DUNKIN. 

Chancellor Dunkin, who has just departed this life, 
"full of years and full of honors/' was one of the last 
high functionaries of the old regime in South Carolina. 
Though a New Englander by family, and a Philadelphian 
by birth, he was a true Carolinian in feeling and charac- 
ter, ever loyal to the State, and possessing all the honor, 
pride and dignity of the old school of South Carolina 
gentlemen. His ancestry, as his Christian name would 
indicate, were amongst the first families of Massachusetts. 
He graduated at Harvard College, and soon after came 
to Charleston to pursue his profession, where he volun- 
teered his services in the war of 1812, and was appointed 
the adjutant of a regiment, which was stationed at George- 
town. He married a South Carolina lady, and pur- 
chased a large plantation near Georgetown. His rise at 
the bar was rapid, and most successful, which was at that 
time one of the ablest in the United States, numbering 
amongst its members. Judge Cheves, Lewis Keating 
Simons, General Hayne, Colonel Drayton, Judge Rich- 
ardson, James L. Petigru and Judge Huger. 

I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of 
Chancellor Dunkin, in 1827. He was then a leading 
member of the Legislature, and I was a constant specta- 
tor of its pro(;eedings, just after my admission to the bar. 
I noticed that in all their discussions in the House of 
Representatives, the chancellor seldom spoke till towards 
the close of the debate and he then generally carried the 
House with him. His manner of speaking was fine, with 
all the animation, earnestness, and fire of a Southern 
man. He Avas logical in his argument, and always spoke 



Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin. 209 

to the true points of the question under discussion. At 
the bar his manner was the same, and he always argued 
his cases with great abiUty and learning. 

I was a member of the Legislature, when he was elected 
chancellor to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation 
of Chancellor DeSaussure. At that time there was no 
chancellor or law judge residing in Charleston. I thought 
it was due the city, and important to the interests of the 
people that they should have a resident judge in the city. 
As soon as Chancellor DeSaussure's resignation was read 
by the Speaker, I went to Colonel Memminger and ex- 
pressed my willingness to vote for him as chancellor. 
He said to me that he did not wish the honor, but thought 
that Chancellor Dunkin did desire it. I told him that 
I would support Mr. Dunkin with great pleasure. This 
conversation was repeated to the chancellor, who met me ' 
in the evening, and said he was much gratified at it. 
Judge Wardlaw was run against him, and if I had con- 
sulted my own interest, I should certainly have supported 
him, for he was in full practice at Greenville, at the 
time, and our relations were most friendly and cordial. 

Chancellor Dunkin, proved himself the model of a 
chancellor. He had been a candidate for a seat on the 
law bench, and was beaten by Judge Butler. I always 
thought it was fortunate for Chancellor Dunkin that he 
became a chancellor instead of a law judge. He was 
afterwards elected Chief Justice of South Carolina, and 
continued in this high oftice till the reconstruction and 
downfall of the State. He then resumed his practice at 
the bar, after being deprived of his office and the loss of 
his property. 

I was on terms of great intimacy with Chancellor 
Dunkin for nearly half of a centmy, from the time of 
our first acquaintance up to his death, and I admired 
him as a judge, and esteemed him as a man throughout 
the whole of this period. I remember consulting him, 
when I was a very young man, in regard to an affair of 
honor, in ^vhich I was then engaged, and had his entire 



210 Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin. 

approval of the course I intended to pursue. Judge 
Earle had requested me to consult with him, and get his 
judgment in regard to the matter. 

Chancellor Dunkin, on the bench and off the bench, 
was the representative of two very different persons. In 
the one position, he was gravity, and dignity, personi- 
fied, punctilious in the enforcement of every propriety on 
the part of the bar and officers of court. In social in- 
tercourse, lie was always pleasant, aifable and cordial. 
He had the tact of drawing from all T\Iioni he met in 
conversation a great deal of news, without communicat- 
ing much in return. He was a very kind hearted gen- 
tleman. When he first came to Greenville, to hold 
court, he inquired of me the circumstances of a lady re- 
siding here, and finding that she was straitened in her 
means of living, he gave me annually for many years a 
small sum of money to purchase necessaries for her, but 
with the injunction that I should not communicate to 
the lady herself or any one else, who her benefactor 
was. 

Chancellor Dunkin was a very pious and devout mem- 
ber of the Episcopal Church, and strict in the observance 
of all his religious duties. I once met him in the Court 
of Appeals, and he inquired of me, how he should get to 
Spartanburg Court. I suggested to him that he had 
better come to Greenville and I would carry him down 
on Sunday in my barouche. He raised up his head, and 
said, "I will not do it, sir, and if you will ask Mrs. 
Perry, I am sure she Avill tell you I am right in refusing 
your oifer." He was very abstemious in all things. On 
several occasions, in riding the circuit, when we stopped 
on the roadside to take a lunch, I have invited him to 
take a drink of brandy, and he invariably refused, say- 
ing, the weather was too hot to drink spirits. He came 
with me once in my carriage from Pickens Court to 
Greenville, ^^^hen I happened to have a bottle of claret 
and some sugar with me. The weather was extremely 
hot, the roads very dusty, and we were both a good deal 



Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin. 211 

fatigued. Coming to a nice spring on the roadside in a 
shady place, I proposed that we should stop and take a 
snack. He readily consented. We mixed the claret and 
sugar with water and finished the bottle before we started. 
After resting an hour or two in the shade, enjoying our 
lunch and claret, the chancellor got up and said with 
great gravity, " I do not know, Mr. Perry, that I am a 
better man than I was when we first came to this spring, 
but I feel a great deal better.'' 

He was very reticent in his views and expressions and 
averse to making himself prominent in any way. I 
served with him twenty years in the board of trustees of 
the South Carolina College, and the members had fre- 
quently very warm discussions, in which most of the 
judges took a part. But I do not now remember that 
Chancellor Dunkin ever participated in our debates more 
than two or three times in that long period. He was 
very punctual in his attendance on the meetings of the 
board, as he was most particular in the discharge of all 
his public duties. Whilst I was editing the Southern 
Patriot, during a great political excitement in South 
Carolina, I was in the habit of publishing and comment- 
ing on the views and expressions of public men, whom I 
met in social intercourse. The chancellor was aware of 
this infirmity on my part, and whenever he said any- 
thing very pointed or marked, he would turn to me and 
say, " Don't put that in your paper, Mr. Perry." 

I liave said that Chancellor Dunkin was a graduate of 
Harvard and a New Englander, I have likewise stated 
that he was ever loyal to the State of his adoption and 
home. But he was not like some northern men, who 
professed to be more southern in their views, than the 
people of the South themselves. President Johnson 
once made a remark, which I heartily endorsed. Speak- 
ing of some northern man, who had come South, and 
was a great " fire-eater," he said, " Damn a Yankee, who 
professes to be more of a southern man than I am." 
Chancellor Dunkin, in his love and devotion to South 



212 Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin. 

Carolina, never inidertook to deny tlie iiistinets of his 
heart, and tlie instincts of every honorable man's heart, 
for the home of his birth and yoiitli. Whilst on the 
western circnit, he received a letter from Mr. Edward 
Everett, his classmate in the Harvard University, urg- 
ing him in very warm terms to attend the celebratit>n (I 
think) the fiftieth anniversary of their graduation. He 
showed me the letter, and he seemed delighted with it. 
All the associations of his youth and college life seemed 
to be revived in his memory and heart. He was fond 
of a good joke and seemed to enjoy it much, but I sel- 
dom saw him indulge in a hearty laugh at any thing. 

The State Reports, embodying his decisions for thirty 
years, are an enduring monument of his fame and ability 
as a judge. The judicial opinions of no judge in South 
Carolina were written with more marked ability, or in 
better taste. His style was admirable, and his judgment 
was always sustained by authorities and learning. 

In person. Chancellor Dunkin was a fine looking gen- 
tleman, rather over the ordinary height, and remarkably 
erect in old age. His manners were dignified and refined. 
On the bench, althougli punctilious, he was courteous and 
civil to the bar and every one. He never for a moment 
indulged in any petty tyranny, or coarse rudeness. He 
w^as a gentleman by birth, education, association and na- 
ture; and he never forgot the respect due from one gen- 
tleman to another, imder any circumstances. He always 
exercised great patience in listening to the argument of a 
case, no matter how didl and heavy it might be. No one 
dared to talk to him, oft the bench, about the cases in 
court. 

I have said his decrees were always well written and 
sustained by the citation of authorities as well as logical 
reasoning. I remember one exception. I filed a bill, 
in the court at Anderson, to set aside a marriage as 
fraudulent, null and void. In a fit of delirium tremens, 
an old bachelor of considerable property, sent off* for a 
woman in the neighborhood and married lier. He gave 



Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin. 213 

as a reason that his clock had told him, that if he did not 
marry her forthwith, he would die that evening. He 
remained all night a madman and never went to bed. 
The woman went off, and came back the next day, when 
his fit had passed over, and he refused to let her enter 
his house. There never had been any intimacy between 
them. I made an elaborate argument in the case, and 
cited a good many cases ; General Thompson and Judge 
Reed, also argued the case with me, and Judge Whitner 
and Governor Orr were on the other side. We all ex- 
pected a long and learned decree. The chancellor took 
all the papers with him, and after keeping them two or 
three months, sent his decree in these words: "In this 
case, the bill is dismissed, B. F. Dunkin.'^ Very short, 
clear and explicit, but surely neither elaborate, logical nor 
learned in its conclusion, or reasoning ! 

If there had been any wisdom, or decency in the Leg- 
islature, after reconstruction. Chief Justice Dunkin, so 
eminent for his learning and ability, would have been 
retained in his high office. But he was thrown aside to 
make room, as all the other judges were, for those who 
were willing to barter principles for office. It is to be 
hoped that this will not continue longer than the next 
Legislature, and that learning and .respectability will 
then be preferred to ignorance, low breeding and vulgar 
tyranny. 



BAYLIS J. EARLE. 

Judge Earle was the eldest son of the Honorable 
Samuel Earle, of Pendleton District, South Carolina, a 
gallant Revolutionary officer and member of Congress, 
representing the whole western portion of the State in 
1796. He was a man of large fortune, for the upper 
country, and self-educated. In his intercourse with 
public men, whilst in Congress, he felt keenly the de- 
fects of his early education, and determined to give all of 
his sons every advantage which schools and colleges 
could bestow. He was a man of high and pure char- 
acter, but most eccentric in the latter part of his life. 
Having served his State in the Legislature, in the con- 
vention which adopted the Federal Constitution, and in 
the United States Congress, he voluntarily withdrew 
from public life, and devoted himself to the management 
of his various famis in Pendleton and Greenville. He 
lived to an old age, and in great retirement, joined the 
Baptist church, and was much esteemed by his neighbors. 

I read law three years in the office of Judge Earle, 
who was then Solicitor of the Western Circuit ; and I 
am indebted to him for many acts of kindness and favor 
shown me. He Avas a man of very superior endowments 
by nature, and highly accomplished as a writer and 
speaker. In person he was strikingly handsome, manly 
and beautiful, if the term can be applied to a gentleman. 
But there was nothing of vanity about him on account 
of his fine appearance. He did not seem to regard it at 
all, but rather disliked any compliment on that account. 
He was, however, a man of great pride or character, and 
dignified in his manners. I once heard Judge Huger 



Baylis J. Earle. 215 

say of him, before his elevation to the bench, . that his 
manners were more judicial than any one he had ever 
met. He was a fine scholar, and possessed great literary 
taste. He spoke and wrote with great accuracy and 
purity. There was nothing ornate or pretentious in his 
style. He had taken Addison as his model when a stu- 
dent, and all of his w^ritings were marked for their 
clearness, purity and simplicity. He seldom indulged in 
metaphors or figures of speech. 

Judge Earle graduated in the South Carolina College 
at sixteen, and took the first honors of his class, which 
was one of great talent and scholarship. But none of 
his class even competed with him for the first honor. 
He was the youngest member of his class and the first 
scholar in it. He read law with John Taylor, then 
solicitor of the Western Circuit, and aSei'wards a mem- 
ber of Congress from the districts of Pendleton and 
Greenville. At twent}'-one he was admitted to the bar, 
and established himself at Greenville. He represented 
tlie district two years in the Legislature, and was then 
elected solicitor by a very large majority over Chancellor 
Bowie, of Alabama. Until his election as solicitor such 
was his diffidence and modesty that he scarcely attempted 
to make a speech at the bar. After this, he was forced 
to argue his sessions business, and made the model of a 
prosecuting officer. He presented the facts of the case 
clearly and succinctly, referred to the law correctly, and 
left the jury to decide the case under the instructions of 
the judge. He had one of the fairest minds that I have 
ever known, and his judgment was always dispassionate. 
He never urged the conviction of a criminal unless the 
circumstances warranted it. Where the guilt of the 
prisoner was the settled conviction of his mind, he always 
presented the circumstances of the case with great force 
and clearness. He was always well prepared in his ses- 
sions business, and did not present more witnesses than 
were necessary in making out the case in the first in- 
stance, reserving the others for the reply. In the trial of 



216 Baylis J. Earle. 

Sims at Newberry, for the murder of his father, ahliough 
the evidence was circumstantial and mysterious, he was 
satisfied of his guilt, and thought the crime so horrible 
that he should not escape punishment. He argued the 
case with great ability, and presented the facts and cir- 
cumstances in such a way as forced the jury to a con- 
viction. 

Judge Earle was a very young man when elected to 
the bench. There were two vacancies to be filled, and 
four candidates. He was elected on the first ballot, and 
Judge Martin on the second or third ballot. Though 
young, he proved himself the equal of his learned asso- 
ciates, and his written judicial opinions in the Court of 
Appeals Avill compare well with those of any other judge 
on the bench. Perhaps in style and composition, they 
are superior, if not equal, in learning and research, to 
tliose of older judges. In college he must have been a 
hard student to have won the honors he did in such a 
graduating class ; but in after life he was very remiss in 
his studies, and did not devote himself to his profession 
as he should have done. I never saw Judge Earle, for 
three years, whilst in his office, read law, except to hunt 
up authority in his cases in court. He was a great reader 
of novels and polite literature ; fond of the society of his 
friends and associates, and devoted to making money, 
though he had neither wife nor child to inherit his for- 
tune. In fact Judge Earle had but little time to read 
and study after my acquaintance with him. His circuit 
occupied him six or seven weeks in the fall and spring. 
He had to attend the Court of Appeals twice every year, 
and the sitting of the Legislature. In the latter part of 
summer, which was the only recreation he had, he gen- 
erally traveled North, or ivent to some watering-place. 
Hence his time was almost constantly occupied, to the 
exclusion of those studies to which he might otherwise 
have devoted himself. 

Judge Earle Avas, as I have already intimated, a most 
conscientious and honorable man, despising all meanness, 



Baylis J. Earle. 217 

deceptiou and flattery. He was fair and opeu iu all his 
conduct, and never took an advantage in private or 
public. Nothing would induce him to show respect or 
confidence where he did not think it was deserved. He 
was a man of great sensibility, at all times, and fre- 
quently morbid in his feelings. Ordinarily his manners 
were courteous and cordial, but sometimes, in his morbid 
moods, he seemed careless of the ordinary civilities of 
life, and rude to his best friends. He would pass them 
or meet them as if he did not wish to speak to them or 
notice them. On one occasion he passed a very intimate 
acquaintance without noticing him who afterwards said 
to him when they met again cordially : " I wish you 
would give your friends some intimation beforehand, 
when you are not disposed to recognize them or pass 
with them the ordinary civilities of life.'^ His tem- 
perament was unfortunate, and he seemed to have in- 
herited a good deal of his father's gloomy, desponding 
nature. 

Judge Earle was a proud man, and an ambitious man, 
but without that energy of character, perseverance and 
indomitable will that are necessary to crown ambition 
with success. In fact he was too conscientious, too 
modest, and too proud, for ordinary success in life. He 
despised the unscrupulous, and had a contempt for igno- 
rance, which he would not conceal, and did not wish to 
conceal. No man ever lived who had less of the tricks 
and the arts of the demagogue about him. He courted 
no popularity and was too sincere and proud to do so. 
His talents, learning, probity, and sincerity of character, 
gave him all the popularity he ever possessed. The wise 
and virtuous required nothing more ; the base and vulgar 
had to seek their idol in some less deserving favorite. 
That he was not suited for political life, he well knew. 
In the first place, he was not calculated to win the popu- 
larity of the masses, and he was too honest and sincere 
to struggle with the art and cunning of politicians. I 
know, however, he would have liked to have been in 



218 Baylis J. Earle. 

CoDgress^ and lie said that a seat in the Senate of the 
United States was the height of his ambition. 

The human heart must have something to love — wife, 
child, horse, dog, honors or riches. Judge Earle had 
neither wife nor child to share his affections, and the love 
of money seemed to occupy their place. This love of 
money is a strange passion in the human heart, and can- 
not be accounted for on any philosophical principles. 
Men who have no children, and no very great love for 
any one in particular, will often toil and strive through 
life to accumulate wealth. They do very often deny 
themselves all the pleasures and comforts of living, to 
make money and hoard it up. Why they will do this, 
when there is no one to whom they care to leave their 
riches, is very strange and unaccountable. They know 
they cannot take their wealtli with them to another 
world, and they know, too, tliat no one is left behind for 
whom they have the slightest affection, or to whom they 
would put themselves to the slightest inconvenience to 
serve whilst living. It seems that it is an actual pleasure 
to accumulate riches without any reference to the use or 
benefit they may be to themselves or any one else. That 
man should love to make money to gratify his own 
wants, or the wants of his family, is most natural and 
laudable. That he should love the possession of wealth 
for the piu'pose of making a display of it, is easily under- 
stood. That he should desire to make money for the 
purpose of doing good with it, assisting the poor and 
needy, and improving his country, is noble and worthy 
of all praise. But that any sensible man should love to 
make money to hide and conceal from the world, and 
live in poverty and want whilst doing so, without any 
purpose of using that money for himself or others, is 
what the human mind is hardly able to comprehend. 

In the latter part of his life. Judge Earle was attacked 
with paralysis, and threatened with a renewal of the 
stroke. I knew that he had long desired to make the 
(our of Europe, and I urged him to resign his seat on 



Baylis J. Earle. 219 

the beuch, and take a trip across the Atlantic, which 
might possibly restore his health. He replied that he 
could not aiFord the expense of such a trip. I said to 
him, very earnestly, " Your life is of more importance to 
you than your money.'' I knew that he had the control 
of unlimited means. But he declined to make the trip 
on that ground solely, and afterwards fell dead on the 
floor of the Mansion House in Greenville. He had a 
large fortune but left no will, which showed there was no 
one in particular for whom he cared to leave his fortune. 
In the character of Judge Earle there was another 
weakness more inexcusable than his love of money, and 
far more injurious to his health and happiness. He was, 
as I have already said, a man of high character, pure 
and conscientious in the discharge of every duty to his 
fellow men. He was a proud man, an accomplished 
gentleman, an exceedingly handsome person, with talents 
and acquirements which would have adorned any station. 
He was ambitious, and as sensitive as a woman to his 
honor and reputation. And yet with all these high and 
noble qualities of head, heart and person, he could not 
restrain himself in the use of spirituous liquors. He was 
not like some men whom I have seen, and who, Mr. 
Pettigru said, had their gauge, and who could drink a 
good deal and keep up. The judge was not an habitual 
drinker, but when he did drink he exercised no prudence 
or concealment. It seemed he was too honest to conceal 
his faults and foibles. Governor Wilson once preferred 
charges against him, to the Legislature, for intemperance, 
in order to gratify his revenge for a supposed insult in 
court. I was at that time a member of the House of 
Representatives, and with the assistance of Major Henry, 
of Spartanburg, had the charge laid on the table. I went 
immediately to the Court of Appeals to inform Judge 
Earle of the result. I found him anxiously pacing the 
portico ; and after telling the fate of the charges against 
him, I cautioned him as to the future in very strong 



220 Baylis J. Earle. 

terms. I said to him that it was a scandal to see a 
gentleman of his character and position go into a grog- 
shop or bar-room and call for a drink. His friends 
would always be glad to join him in a social glass at 
their houses, and when at home he could drink as he 
pleased. I knew that at his own house he never in- 
dulged to excess. He promised most solemnly that he 
would do so ; but, like all such promises, they Avere soon 
forgotten. 

I was in Columbia attending the Court of Appeals 
when Judge Earle died. Judges Richardson and Butler 
came to my room immediately after hearing the sad in- 
telligence, and requested me to draft suitable resolutions 
for the adoption of the bar, and have them presented to 
the court the next morning. Colonel William C. Preston 
presided at our bar meeting ; and on presenting the 
resolutions to the court, they were ordered to be copied 
on their minutes. Judge Earle was greatly esteemed by 
his brethren of the bench and the bar of South Carolina, 
as well as by all who knew him. 

In politics, Judge Earle was a States' rights man, of 
the Crawford and Smith school, and was opposed to Mr. 
Calhoun and his National doctrines whilst Secretary of 
War. The judge afterwards became a nullifier and 
identified with that party. We differed widely in our 
political creeds in 1832, and this difference was painful 
to me. It did not, however, interfere with our social 
relations. 

Judge Earle, as I have said, was never married. He 
lived and died an old bachelor. This he deeply re- 
gretted to me in the latter part of his life. I told him 
it was not too late to retrieve the great error of his life, 
but he said it was. He could not then expect to live to 
see his children brought up and educated. Moreover, 
he had doubts all his life, whether he was suited to a 
married man. He was afraid he might repent marry- 
ing. Some one, it is said, asked Solon whether it was 



Bayli8 J. Earle. 221 

better to many or live single ? The old philosopher re- 
plied, " Do which you will, aud you will repent of it." 
Judge Earle verified the truth of Solon's remark by 
living single. Had he married he might not have re- 
pented. Some remain single in consequence of early 
disappointment, but this was not the case with Judge 
Earle. I feel assured he never addressed a lady in his 
life, and there were few who could have refused him. 



THOMAS J. WITHERS. 

Judge Withers was a man of distinguislied talent and 
ability. His intellect was as keen and bright as a Da- 
mascus blade^ and he wielded it on all occasions, in public 
and in private, most effectually. Every w^ord that fell 
from his lips in conversation, on the Bench, or in public 
speaking, had a telling effect. No one was ever left in 
doubt as to his meaning when he discussed any question. 
He had moral courage in a high degree, and cared not 
whom he pleased or offended. He was very sarcastic and 
bitter in his denunciations of men and measures. No 
one ever possessed less of the demagogue than Judge 
Withers. No one ever more conscientiously did what he 
thought was right, regardless of consequences. He was in 
bad health all his life, and somewhat misanthropic. He 
never courted popularity, and scorned the base means 
which others resorted to for this purpose. The liigh pub- 
lic offices which he filled w^ere conferred on him for his 
talents, ability and honesty, and not on account of any 
personal popularity which he possessed. There was a 
spice of malice in his composition which delighted in 
wreaking itself on unworthy men and measures. He was 
as open as the day, and if he disliked anyone, he showed 
it in a manner not to be mistaken. Frankness was his 
character. 

Judge Withers was born in York District. He told me 
his parents were "poor, obscure and honest.'' In early 
boyhood, he displayed a great promise, and became the 
protege of Judge William Smith, who was, at that time, 
United States Senator. He was well educated, and gradu- 
ated in the South Carolina College with high distinction. 



Thomas J. Withers. 223 

Immediately after his graduatiou, he took charge of the 
Cohimbia Telescope, and edited that paper with great 
abihty, for two or three years. In the mean time he read 
law, and was admitted to the Bar. He was a fierce Nul- 
lifier, and when Governor Miller Avas bronght out by the 
Nullification party, in opposition to his old patron, Judge 
Smith, he resigned the editorship of the Telescope. He 
would not abandon his political principles, and he could 
not enter the canvass against his old friend and patron. He 
therefore, actuated by the most honorable motives, stepped 
aside, and took no part in the contest. Governor Miller was, 
at that time, the only man in South Carolina, who could 
have beaten Judge Smith. He did beat him a few votes, 
which gave encouragement and success to the Nullifica- 
tion party in South Carolina. 

Judge Withers commenced the practice of law at Cam- 
den, and soon acquired a lucrative practice and a high 
reputation as a lawyer. He was soon elected Solictor of 
his circuit over Chancellor Dargan, who was the opposing 
candidate. The duties of this office he discharged with 
great ability and impartiality. His health became bad, 
and he resigned the office, after he had filled it for many 
years, and had been several times re-elected. He contin- 
ued, however, in his profession till he was elected Circuit 
Law Judge of the State. He first took his seat on the 
Bench at Spartanburg, and delivered a most admirable 
charge to the grand jury. When court adjourned for din- 
ner, I complimented him on his self-possession in taking 
his seat for the first time on the Bench. He said to me, 
" I was utterly confused and embarrassed, but the beauty 
of it was, I let no one see it.'^ 

As a judge, he was always clear, able and learned. On 
the circuit he dispatched business with great promptness, 
and his opinions in the Court of Appeals will compare 
well with those of any other judge. He acquired con- 
siderable reputation as a writer whilst editing a paper, 
and it increased through life. There was great force and 
j)oint in his style as well as beauty of composition. His 



2:^4 Thomas J. Withers. 

speeches at the Bar were always logical and lucid, some- 
times fiercely denunciatory. He Avas a very high-toned 
and honorable man, and no one was more apt than him- 
self, to denounce and expose all meanness and dishonor- 
able conduct. He seemed to take great pleasure in doing 
so, where he might sometimes have passed it over with- 
out notice. He was by nature very passionate, and his 
ill health made him irritable and peevish. This some- 
times occurred on the Bench, and made him appear want- 
ing in proper courtesy. 

In the trial of a case at Anderson, for retailing without 
license, the Hon. J. P. Reed was defending, and Judge 
Whitner, then Solicitor, was prosecuting. The Town 
Council had refused to grant any license to retail spirits to 
any one. This measure became very unpopular, and de- 
fendant set it at defiance, hoping that he could appeal to 
popular prejudice, and be acquitted. The Solicitor, in 
order to prove the retailing, put the defendant's counsel 
on the stand, who stated that he did, on some occasions, 
call for a drink, and paid defendant for it. In the argu- 
ment of the case, the defendant's counsel declaimed forci- 
bly and at great length on the injustice of the indictment, 
under the circumstances, and argued an acquittal as a re- 
buke to such petty tyranny, etc. In charging the jury 
his Honor said, ^^ There is only one question, gentlemen, 
for your consideration in this case, and that is, whether 
the defendant's counsel who j)roved the retailing is to be 
believed on oath? If you think him worthy of credit, 
you will find a verdict of guilty, otherwise your verdict 
will be not guilty. Give the record to the jury, Mr. 
Sheriff." 

The judge told me of a piece of malice and passion on 
his part, which I did not think altogether right. He 
was going from Camden to Sumter court in an old sulky. 
It was late in the evening and raining very hard, the 
weather, too, was quite chilly, and he thought he would 
stop for the night at the next house. He drove up, and 
the gentleman, who was pacing back and forth in a long 



Thomas J. Withers. 225 

piazza, took no notice of him till he asked if he could get 
to stay all night with him. The gentleman replied 
promptly that he did not keep a public house, and con- 
tinued his promenade. This cold, inhospitable reception 
nettled the judge, and he said to the gentleman, "I did 
not mistake your residence, sir, for a hotel, but I thought 
your kindness and humanity would prompt you to give 
shelter in such weather as this, to a wet and suffering fel- 
low-creature like myself. If there had been a public 
house anywhere on the road, I should not have called on 
you.'^ By this time the gentleman ascertained who he 
was, and very politely asked him to alight, and said he 
would be happy to have the pleasure of his company for 
the night. "No," said the judge, "I will drive in the 
night through the rain to Sumter Court House, before I 
will take shelter with such a man as you are," and he 
drove off. '^This fellow," said the Judge, "was a wealthy 
man, and a shining light in the Presbyterian Church. 
He afterwards became a candidate for the Legislature, 
and I took great pleasure in telling about his inhospita- 
ble conduct, which damaged his election considerably, and 
he was. defeated." 

Judge Withers was, for a number of years, a member 
of the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina College. 
He told me that a young brother of his was represented 
to him as being very talented, and he determined to edu- 
cate him. He gave him money, and sent him to the 
South Carolina College. The young man thought he 
needed a great deal more clothing, etc., than he had money 
to purchase. Therefore, he opened accounts with sundry 
merchants in Columbia, who all sent their bills in due 
time to the judge for payment. His brother had given 
him no notice of his indebtedness, and the judge was 
shocked at the amount of these various bills. He imme- 
diately sat down and drew up a bill for the board of trus- 
tees to request the Legislature to pass, making it indict- 
able and punishable with fine and imprisonment for any 
merchant to sell goods to a student of the college, on a 



226 Thomas J. Withers. 

credit. This bill provided further, that if any lawyer 
should sue on, or attempt to collect any such accounts, 
he was also to be fined and imprisoned, and, perhaps, 
stricken from the roll. When submitted to the board of 
trustees, the extraordinary features of this bill excited 
some mirth, and the judge could get no one to second 
the motion for sending it to the Legislature. The judge 
was so much disgusted with the reception his bill met in 
the board of trustees, that he swore he would never at- 
tend another meeting of the board, and never did, to my 
remembrance. 

Judge Withers married the sister-in-law of Governor 
Miller, a Miss Boykin, who owned a valuable plantation 
in Kershaw District, and a large number of slaves. His 
treatment to the slaves, and management of the planta- 
tion, was so kind, indulgent and humane that it dis- 
pleased some of his neighbors, who said it was a bad 
example in the neighborhood, and demoralized the slaves 
on the other plantations. This determined the judge, 
as he told me himself, to sell out and invest the pro- 
ceeds in bank stocks and bonds and mortgages. With 
all of his temper and irritability. Judge Withers was a 
very kind-hearted gentleman, and most indulgent and 
affectionate in all the relations of life. His house ser- 
vants did pretty much as they pleased, and he did not 
pretend to watch over them. On one occasion, he told 
me, that his carriage-driver, in whom he had placed 
great confidence, was caught in a theft, and he thought 
it was a good opportunity of having a general confession 
of all his roguery and rascality. He asked the fellow if 
he had not been stealing his corn and fodder and selling 
it. The boy declared that so far from having done so, 
he did, on one or two occasions, when the judge was 
short of fodder, steal a few bundles of one of the 
neighbors to feed his horses with ! 

Judge Withers was elected a member of the Southern 
or Confederate Congress, and assisted greatly in framing 
the plan of government adopted for the Confederate 



Thomas J. Wiihers. 227 

States. I received from him whilst in Montgomery, a 
long and most cordial letter, from which I will make a 
few extracts : " I am exercised in a calling, at present, 
which is to me wholly novel. I never dreamed of being 
a member of Congress, especially one to make a Consti- 
tution, and then laws under it. Circumstances seemed, 
to a majority, to demand imperatively the exercise by 
this Congress of the legislative power for a time, a short 
one I hope. I have no taste for this kind of life, no 
penchant for office, no art in concocting and executing 
the schemes in which politicians delight and thrive. 

* * * * I never had a doubt on two points 
as to yourself: First, that you would unflinchingly 
maintain your opinion to the last. Second, that when 
the last came, that is, when the State overruled your 
opinions and took a final step, you would travel with 
her. I heard you so declared in December, and it did, 
in no wise, surprise me. I was sure I knew you too 
well to believe you one of those prophets, who, having 
predicted a course taken by his country to be unwise, 
hazardous and evil, would, to maintain his prophecy, 
work to fullfil it. * * * * You will have 
seen before you read this, that Davis is assigned to the 
Presidency, and Stephens to the Vice-Presidency. Both 
elections were unanimous, and the election of the latter 
will prove to you that this Congress is not proscriptive." 

* * * On his return to Camden, he wrote me. 
^^ My liking for active service in State affairs does not 
increase, though it may grow on what it feeds on. 1 
am not in the ways of tough politicians, and you know 
it is hard to learn an old monkey new tricks. My place 
is about the hearth-stone, as I think, and I strongly sus- 
pect my colleagues in political adventures will give the 
same testimony.'^ 

In August, 1865, Judge Withers wrote me a long 
letter inquiring as to the duties of a judge under the 
circumstances in which our State then was. He com- 
menced his letter by stating, "I can avow, with all 



228 Thomas J. Withers. 

candor, that I am glad the executive power for this State 
has been placed by the Executive of* the United States, 
in your hands, for I think I know you have those 
elements of true manhood in your composition that will 
work out to individuals of merit, and to the public, 
which makes uj) what is left to the State, all the good 
which we can expect in the unhappy circumstances in 
which we are placed/' At the close of his letter he says : 
" I am in a very inconvenient condition to discharge ju- 
dicial duties outside of my house. I have not a dollar, 
and know not where to get one. My estate, i. e., wdiat 
was my estate, is in the hands of others, and I have 
much reason to apprehend they intend it shall remain 
there. I mean the most of them. At present, they 
seem to commend starvation to me, with that philosophy, 
not unnatural to a full stomach, when contemplating an 
empty one. I fear a stern and high morality in respect 
to contracts will not again be seen in your day and 
mine. God preserve us against the leprosy of stop-laws 
or pine barren laws, got up by rogues to cheat honest men.'' 

Judge Withers was a man of great wit and humor, 
and most scathing sarcasm. He told me an amusing in- 
cident between him and the pastor of his church. The 
reverend gentleman applied to him to receive into his 
house, a young teacher, for twelve months or so, whom 
he represented as amiable, accomplished and pious, really 
a most lovely and charming person. The j udge said to me, 
the idea of making a stranger a member of his family, was 
what he could not think of for a moment. He hesitated 
what to say, and at last, the idea suggested itself of turning 
the application into a joke. He replied very seriously : 
*^ Ah ! I see what you are after, you want to make mischief 
between me and my wife." The clergyman was so much 
shocked at this interpretation, that he simply bowed and 
passed on to seek quarters for his protege elsewhere. 

Judge Withers was a gentleman of ordinary height, deli- 
cately slender, with Grecian face and features in character 
with his mind, sharp and keen. He was a great talker and 
talked well. 



RICHARD GANTT. 

Richard Gautt moved to Greenville whilst I was read- 
ing law. His son, William F. Gantt, had been admit- 
ted to the bar; he established himself here likewise. He 
commenced reviewing his studies here with me, whilst I 
was preparing for admission to the bar. We read in the 
same office a good portion of the time, and Judge Gantt 
would occasionally pay us a visit, and give us good ad- 
vice as to our studies. He inculcated in strong terms 
temperance in all things, and especially abstinence, total 
and unqualified, in the use of spirits. He told us we 
must not only be diligent and industrious, but we must 
be pious also, to succeed in life. He advised us to mem- 
orize an old prayer of Lord Coke's, and kneel down 
every morning after opening our office and repeat it. 
The Judge's great piety, as I afterwards learned, was by 
fits and starts. As an instance of it I will mention 
the following andecdote, which is strictly true. 

He sent for a Methodist preacher, who was a mechanic, 
to build him a mill. They went out to survey the mill- 
lot, and whilst there the judge proposed that they should 
kneel down in prayer. The clergyman offered up a very 
fervent address and as they rose from their knees, the 
Judge inquired what was the lowest price for which he 
could afford to build the mill. The Methodist stated the 
sum, which was so much more than what the judge had 
expected that he indignantly replied : " You are a 
damned extortioner." 

Judge Gantt was a most eccentric man, and some of his 
eccentricities bordered on derangement. He was one of 
the kindest-hearted men I ever knew. He had great 



280 Richard Gantt. 

humor and was exceedingly fond of telling a good story. 
He was as fickle as the wind in all his plans and purposes 
of life. Before he came to Greenville, he was moving 
from place to place, continually. It is said that Edmund 
Bacon, a distinguished lawyer of Edgefield, was asked 
where Judge Gantt lived. He replied that last week he 
was living at sucli a place ; " but he did not know how 
often he had moved since, or where he was now living.'' 
This was told the judge, who said : " That fellow Bacon 
is such a nuisance that if he goes to heaven I do not wish 
to be there with him.'' If all the stories told of the 
judge, and those told by him, were collected and pub- 
lished, they would make a most amusing volume. 

The judge was a very eloquent advocate at the bar, 
and had a high reputation as a criminal lawyer. On one 
occasion, he and Mr. John C. Calhoun were associated in 
the defence of a case of homicide. In his argument as 
junior council, Mr. Calhoun admitted that it was a case 
of manslaughter. Judge Gantt followed him as senior 
counsel and argued that it was a case of excusable homi- 
cide in self-defence. The jury acquitted the prisoner en- 
tirely, notwithstanding the distinct admission of his 
junior counsel that it was a case of manslaughter. He 
had a noble voice and was a most fluent and impassioned 
speaker. On the bench he always took the side of the 
criminal, and most generally urged an acquittal. A 
great many rogues and murderers have escaped justice 
through his mistaken compassion and mercy. His 
charges to the grand and petit juries were sometimes as- 
tonishmg for their extravagance and folly. 

I once heard Judge Gantt, at Spartanburg, denounce 
the retailing of spirits as the greatest of all crimes, as it 
induced all others. He was the first man in South Car- 
olina who lectured against the use of spirits. This he 
did in his charges to the grand juries, long before the 
crusade of the regular temperance lectures in this State. 
He said to the jury at Spartanburg : " Do you suppose 
there is any retailing of spirits in heaven ? How would 



KiCHARD Gantt. 231 

it look to see the Apostle Paul astride a whisky-barrel ? 
St. Peter acting as tapster? And George Washington 
playing the court-house bully, with a half-pint tin-cup in 
his hand ? " In expressing his utter detestation of spirits, 
he said : " He would sooner swallow a rattlesnake than a 
drop of spirits ; provided it was a small one that could 
get down his throat easily." 

In one of his charges to the petit jury, at Greenville, 
in a case of fighting in the streets on the Fourth of July, 
he told them that they ought to acquit tlie defendants. 
He said the anniversary of American Independence was 
a proud day to every patriot in the land, and it was a 
day on which the American people had a right to fight ! 
They should not be prosecuted for the exercise of this 
right, so nobly maintained by our ancestors on that day ! 

After my admission to the bar, I became very intimate 
with Judge Gantt, and was strongly attached to him for 
his many high and noble traits of character, notwith- 
standing his eccentricities and vagaries. He was as kind- 
hearted and benevolent a gentleman as breathed the 
breath of life. He was a pure, incorruptible man, and 
as pleasant a companion as I ever met. He was cordial 
and social in his nature. I frequently rode the Western 
circuit with him, in his carriage, and I was greatly 
amused at his vagaries, whims and strange notions. At 
one time he would drink nothing but spice- wood tea, and 
carried the twigs with him from court to court. At an- 
other time he took it into his head that molasses and 
water was the only liquid that man should drink. He 
would stop at a spring and make his man. Bob, take out 
his molasses bottle and mix his switchel for him. In 
Columbia, during the sitting of the Court of Appeals, he 
rented a little office near the Court-House and made his 
watchman cook his meals. He brought his provisions, 
even his sugar and coffee, from home. He was terribly 
afraid of fires whilst in Charleston, and, on one occasion, 
chartered a vessel to sleep in during his stay in town, 
sitting in the Court of Appeals. 



232 KiCHARD Gantt. 

Judge Gantt was a native of Maryland, and read law 
with William Pinkney, He has frequently told me that 
he was very much like this great lawyer, orator, and 
statesman in his person and features. Judge Gantt 
prided himself on his knowledge of common law, derived 
from old Coke whilst reading in Pinkney's office. He 
said Judges Mott and Johnson, who were on the Appeal 
bench at that time, and two of the most learned judges 
in the State, knew very little of the common law, except 
what they had picked up from him, whilst he presided 
with them as an associate judge in the Court of Appeals. 
Judge Gantt with all his kindness of heart, could say 
many bitter things, and delighted in making sarcastic 
remarks on his associates and acquaintances. He did 
this with no bad motive, but from a hmnorous disposi- 
tion. 

He told me that before leaving Maryland he was des- 
perately enamored with a beautiful and lovely lady. He 
moved to South Carolina and got married, had been 
fortunate in his profession and was elected a judge. He 
thought, after an absence of many years, he would revisit 
old Maryland and see all of his friends and family, who 
still lived there. He did so, and thought he would go 
and see, amongst others, this old flame of his, who was 
married and settled in the country. He still had the 
most vivid remembrance of her youth, beauty, and love- 
liness. Her picture was still in his mind and heart, just 
as he had last seen her. The wear and tear of time had 
made no change in that ! He called and sent up his 
name. In a few minutes he saw a little old woman Avith 
a cap on ; several teeth out in front ; a pale and wrinkled 
face, coming down the stair-case, who rushed toward him 
and said : " How do you do, Mr. Gantt ? I am so glad 
to see you once more.'' The charm was broken ! The 
spell was gone, and he left the house in ten minutes. 

When the separate appeal court was first established in 
South Carolina, it consisted of three Judges, Mott, John- 
son and Colcock. They reversed a good many of the 



Richard Gantt. 233 

judge's circuit decisions, and he was indignant at their 
audacity. He said that Mott would always try to wipe 
out his tracks when he came to any legal difficulty, that 
Johnson would cut away, like a fellow with a broad-axe, 
to try and remove it, but that Colcock would run up 
against the difficulty without seeing it. 

In the latter part of Judge Gantt's life, his eccentricities 
and oddities became grievous to the bar, and resolutions 
were introduced in the Legislature to remove him from 
the bench, when he resigned by the advice of his friends. 
He carried into his retirement the respect and affectionate 
regard of all who knew him. In the resolutions of the 
bar on his resignation, drawn by Judge Wardlaw, he is 
compared to that most eminent and pious of all the Eng- 
lish Judges, Sir Matthew Hale. 

He used to tell a great many anecdotes of himself 
whilst at the bar, and on the bench. He said that he 
was once employed by an old Dutchman, who chaffered 
about the fee. He asked fifty dollars and the old man 
proposed twenty. The Judge told him he would accept 
his fee and give him an argument accordingly. He 
commenced his speech and pleased his client very much, 
but he stopped short and told him his fee was exhausted. 
The old Dutchman handed him twenty dollars more and 
he went bravely on with his argument for some time 
longer, when he put his hands behind him and opened 
them for another douceur. The Dutchman took the 
hint and put ten silver dollars into his hands, and he 
concluded his argument. On the bench he was trying 
an old miser for compromising a felony. He had had 
a cow stolen, and dropped the prosecution for a large sum 
of money, paid by the defendant. The old miser refused 
to employ counsel to defend him and said, he ^^ would 
rely on the judge for justice and mercy.'' The judge 
sentenced him to pay a fine of a thousand dollars, and be 
imprisoned twelve months. This opened the eyes of the 
old miser to the propriety of having counsel to represent 
him, and he immediately employed Judge Martin, then 



234 KiCHARD Gantt. 

of the bar, to intercede for him, and paid him a fee of 
live hundred dollars ! 

In Basil Hall's book of travels through the United 
States, he mentions an interview which he witnessed in 
Columbia, South Carolina, between two brothers, illus- 
trative of the disposition of the Americans to move from 
one State to another which was just being settled. Judge 
Gantt told me that the scene did occur between him and 
his brother, pretty much as described by Hall. He was 
starting from Columbia one morning, for his home, in 
Greenville, and met a cavalcade of a gentleman moving. 
He inquired of one of the servants where they were from, 
and was told Maryland. This induced him to inquire 
the name of his master, and he found that he was his 
brother whom he had not seen or heard from for years. He 
immediately turned back and went with his brother and fam- 
ily into the town of Columbia, and stopped at the hotel 
where this conversation occurred. He asked his brother' 
if he had ever been in Florida, where he was moving to. 
The brother informed him that he was moving there 
without ever having seen the country ! " How do you 
know that you will like the country ? '' said the judge. 
The brother replied that if he did not, he would go on to 
Louisiana. " Why did you move at all ? " said the 
judge. "You have been comfortably situated in Mary- 
land, and say that you have been prosperous in life and 
done well." " That is all very true," said the brother : 
"but I wish to do better." 

Another anecdote or two of the judge, and I will con- 
clude. It illustrates the deep interest he always took on 
the side of mercy. At Union Court-house, in a trial of 
a criminal case, he called upon Colonel Herndon, one 
of the defendant's counsel, and said to him : " Let your 
partner expatiate on the facts of the case, you lay down 
the law, and I will reply to the solicitor." It is said that 
the judge was once trying to purchase a horse of a gen- 
tleman, who was immediately afterwards sworn as a wit- 
ness in a case in court. The judge said to him : " Now 



KicHARD Gantt. 235 

you are under oath, tell me what you think that horse is 
really worth." The gentleman adhered to his price, and 
the judge closed the trade ! The Hon. Warren R. Davis 
said that he was once arguing a case of great importance, 
in the old Constitutional Court of Appeals, composed of 
all the circuit judges, and he noticed that he had attracted 
the particular attention of Judge Gantt, who seemed to 
be listening with profound attention to the thread of his 
argument. He thought it was an indication that the 
judge was with him in the view he took of the case. He 
was confident that his argument had riveted the attention 
of his honor for some time, and he felt gratified. When 
he concluded, the judge called him up, he supposed to 
compliment his eifort. But instead of doing so, he said 
to him, '^ Where did you get that waistcoat ? I was ad- 
miring the cut of it all the time you were speaking.'' 



WADDY THOMPSON, SR. 

In my ^^Reminiscences of Greenville," I very briefly 
mentioned Chancellor Thompson, as a prominent citizen 
of the district. Since writing those reminiscences, I have 
given more extended sketches of the chancellor's con- 
temporaries on the bench and at the bar, and I feel that 
it is due his character and position that I should men- 
tion him also in my ^^Reminiscences of Public Men." I 
have a very pleasant and agreeable recollection of him. 
He was kind and cordial to me in my early life, and I 
had a sincere regard for him. 

When I came to Greenville to read law. Chancellor 
Thompson was living on Grove Creek, ten or fifteen 
miles below Greenville C. H. I remember paying sev- 
eral very pleasant visits at his house, whilst a student of 
law\ He lived plainly in the country, but entertained his 
friends and visitors with great hospitality. About the 
time of my admission to the bar, he moved into the vil- 
lage, and lived in more style. I then saw him almost 
daily up to the period of his death. He always seemed 
pleased with the visits of his young friends. He re- 
marked to me the night of his daughter's marriage to 
Robert Means, Esq., of Fairfield : ^^ I suppose, now that 
Caroline is married, I shall see very little of my young 
friends." She was a very handsome and intellectual 
young lady, and well calculated to attract company to the 
chancellor's. For a number of years she was the reign- 
ing belle of the district, and greatly admired by all who 
knew her. The chancellor brought up and educated, 
with great care, five sons and six daughters. He was 



Waddy Thompson, Sr. 237 

not a man of large fortune, but lived generously and 
spent his money freely. 

Chancellor Thompson was a native of Virginia. He 
moved to Georgia whilst a very young man, and there 
married the daughter of Colonel Williams, a revolu- 
tionary officer. He then settled at old Pickensville, the 
seat of justice for Pendleton and Greenville counties, and 
commenced the practice of law. He was very successful 
at the bar, and engaged, on one side or the other, of 
almost every case in court. He was elected to the Leg- 
islature from Pendleton, and whilst a member of the 
Legislature, was elected solicitor of the western circuit. 
This office he held until 1805, when he was elected one 
of the chancellors of the State. This high judicial posi- 
tion he filled with ability for twenty-five or six years. 
Finally the Legislature started a temperance movement 
in regard to the judiciary, and after victimizing Judge 
James, they moved against Chancellor Thompson, when 
he resigned his seat on the bench. I was in Columbia 
when this movement was made, and under the impor- 
tunate entreaties of his son. General Waddy Thompson, 
the chancellor yielded to the advice of his friends. When 
I returned home, the chancellor met me at the hotel, and 
inquired, with deep feeling, what had been done with his 
resignation. I told him it had been accepted, and pro- 
ceedings against him discontinued. He replied that he 
regretted very much having resigned his office, and that 
he would give his whole fortune to have it recalled. I 
said to him, very frankly, that he had pursued the wisest 
course in yielding to the storm that was setting in against 
him ; and that if he had attempted to breast it, he would 
have gone overboard, as Judge James did. This seemed, 
in some measure, to reconcile him to the course he had 
been prevailed on to pursue. 

Chancellor Thompson was a noble looking gentleman, 
distinguished in his appearance, tall and well propor- 
tioned, with an uncommonly fine head and face. When 
a young man, he was regarded as handsome, and a per- 



238 Waddy Thompson, Sr. 

feet athlete in all manly exercises. His wife was as fine 
looking a matron as I ever saw^ and, in her youth, dis- 
tinguished for her beauty. Dr. (Jrittenden told me that 
in passing through Georgia, he met a venerable old gen- 
tleman, who said he had the honor of having married 
Chancellor Thompson and his wife, and that they were 
the finest looking and handsomest couple he had ever 
seen in all his life. I have heard the chancellor speak 
of his courtship. He said there was an accomplished 
young gentleman paying his addresses to Miss Williams 
at the same time he was. This gentleman had the good 
wishes of the parents of the young lady for his success. 
He w^as a great lover of music, and came occasionally to 
serenade Miss Williams. "But," said the chancellor, 
" she preferred the music of my tongue to his flute and 
violin.'' 

The fashionable sports of those days were ball playing, 
pitching quoits, hunting, riding races, jumping, running 
foot races, etc. In all these Chancellor Thompson is 
said to have excelled, in his younger days. He was also 
fond of playing cards, but the rumor was that he did not 
excel in this kind of sport, and that Colonel William 
Toney won from him the greater part of the purchase- 
money of a valuable tract of land (now owned by Col. 
Irvine), sold by the chancellor to Toney. 

Chancellor Thompson was a man of great sociability 
of nature, and fond of boon companionship. He possessed 
great wit and humor, and could utter some of the most 
withering sarcasms that ever fell from the lips of man. 
I thought him sometimes cruel and torturing. He was 
smutty, too, in his cuts and thrusts. I once witnessed a 
rencontre between him and Col. Benjamin Hagood in 
wit, humor and vulgarity. The colonel was regarded as in- 
vincible in this line, but he soon succumbed to the chan- 
cellor, and left the field cruelly tortured. The chancellor 
was walking the streets of Charleston with one of his 
brother chancellors, when they met a third, who extended 
both hands at the same time, and said, " I thank God I 



W^ADDY Thompson, Sr. 239 

have a hand for both of you. "And a heart for neither/' 
was the response of Chancellor Thompson. 

I have always thought and said, that if Chancellor 
Thompson had cultivated properly his talents, he might 
have been one of the great men of America. But his 
mind was like a rich forest covered over with briers and 
brambles, instead of producing flowers and fruits. I 
once heard a gentleman say, speaking of a mutual friend 
of ours, that it was a great shame such a fellow should 
possess genius and talents of a high order. I replied, 
no, the shame consists in not improving his talents and 
cultivating his genius. 

In looking over our equity reports, I find the decrees 
and judicial opinions of Chancellor Thompson very 
brief, and simply deciding the points involved in the 
cases. He elaborated nothing, and took no pains to 
bolster up his opinions with fine-spun reasoning, or a 
display of authorities. In this respect there is a marked 
difference between him and the chancellors who succeded 
him. His decision of the case he was hearing, was gen- 
erally made up before he got half through the case. An 
amusing incident is told of him at Spartanburg. The 
lawyers on one side had argued the case, and the leading 
counsel on the other side was to be heard in the morning 
of the next day. That night Chancellor Thompson 
wrote out his decree, deciding the case against the lawyer 
who was to conclude the argument the next morning. 
He heard the argument very patiently, and as soon as it 
was closed, he pulled out the decree and read it in court ! 
The lawyer was amazed ! He saw the case had been de- 
cided before his argument and authorities were heard by 
the chancellor. But no one ever doubted the integrity 
and impartiality of Chancellor Thompson on the bench. 

After he resigned his judgeship, the chancellor an- 
nounced himself as a Union candidate for Congress, in 
opposition to the Hon. Warren R. Davis, who was a 
nullifier and disunionist. But before the election came 
on, he declined being a candidate, and Col. Joseph Gris- 



240 Waddy Thompson, Sr. 

ham was nominated by the Union party in his stead. 
Chancellor Thompson lived a great many years after he 
retired from the bench, and rode to the village almost 
every day to see and chat with his friends. He was a 
warm-hearted friend and a bitter enemy. But in his 
witticisms, humor and sarcasms, he spared neither friend 
nor foe. I practiced before him only one or two courts 
before he resigned, and had no cause to complain of him. 
He dispatched business very rapidly, and I thought cor- 
rectly. 

The chancellor could say the most spiteful things, in 
perfect good humor, and really felt no malice at the time 
in saying them. On one occasion, he and Col. Lemuel 
J. Alston, a vain, pompous man, who owned the village 
of Greenville, and was a member of Congress, and Col. 
Elias Earle and Mr. Samuel Earle, who had likewise 
been in Congress, were enjoying themselves socially, when 
Alston said to the chancellor : '^ There will be great ri- 
valry hereafter between the sons of Col. Elias Earle and 
Mr. Samuel Earle, for your daughters.'' They had a 
great many sons, and the chancellor quite a number of 
daughters. Chancellor Thompson replied, laconically : 
" I don't like the breed." Mr. Samuel Earle responded, 
" You like it, sir, better than I do yours." This broke 
up the sociability of the evening. But in after life, their 
blood did mingle, as Alston predicted. The oldest son 
of Col. Elias Earle married a daughter of the chancellor's, 
and a younger son of Mr. Samuel Earle married a grand- 
daughter of Chancellor Thompson. But there never was 
any kind feeling on the part of Chancellor Thompson 
towards either Col. Elias Earle or Mr. Samuel Earle, 
and I know this feeling was reciprocated on the part of 
Mr. Samuel Earle. 

I forgot to mention that when the appeal courts in 
equity and law were blended, and the judiciary of South 
Carolina re-organized, DeSaussure and Thompson were 
elected chancellors ; before they were called equity 
judges. 



LANGDON CHEVES. 

Judge Cheves was, intellectually, one of the greatest 
men America has ever produced, and a purer statesman 
never lived. He was the colleague of Mr. Calhoun in 
Congress during the war with Great Britain in 1812. 
He Avas at one time Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States, and afterwards President 
of the United States Bank. The judge Avas a good 
looking, stout old gentleman when I had the pleasure of 
first seeing him, after his return from Philadelphia to 
South Carolina in 1829. He had a very fine, large 
head, said to have the largest head of any public man in 
America. His forehead was broad and his face full, 
indicative of one who was a good liver. There was a 
marked contrast between his appearance and that of Mr. 
Calhoun. The latter was tall and slender, and had a 
high narrow forehead, with an uncommonly long head. 
His face was pale and thin, showing an abstemious man, 
whilst Judge Cheves' face was as red as the setting sun. 
Mr. Calhoun's eyes were brilliant and dazzling, stamped 
with genius, whilst those of Judge Cheves were sedate 
and thoughtful. I was strongly impressed with his 
great talents, ability, frankness and impartiality when I 
met him in 1831. Sitting at the supper table one 
evening. General Thompson, who was then bitterly 
opposed to Henry Clay, remarked that Clay was a 
vindictive man, and rarely spoke well of his opponents. 
Judge Cheves replied that he boarded with Clay several 
months, and never heard him say a harmful word of any 
one, and that he thought him remarkably circumspect 
and generous in that respect. General Thompson re- 



242 Langdon Cheves. 

marked that Clay had no doubt changed a good deal in 
his feelings and character since the judge knew him ; 
that he was cowed and embittered against the world in 
consequence of the abuse Avhich had been deservedly 
heaped upon him. " No sir," said Judge Cheves, with 
some feeling, I thought; "give the devil his due. 
Clay deserves no kindness from a Southern man ; but he 
is not a dejected man, nor does he feel himself disgraced 
by anything that has happened.'' This was in allusion 
to the coalition between Clay and Adams. 

Judge Cheves was a great student and most laborious 
man whilst at the bar. No lawyer at the South Carolina 
bar ever had such a practice before or since. I heard him 
once say that it yielded him twenty thousand dollars per 
annum. He said he began to throw off his business 
long before he was elected to Congress. Then he trans- 
ferred the whole of it to General Robert Y. Hayne, who 
had read law with him, and had just been admitted to 
the bar. 

Judge Huger, who was a great admirer of Judge 
Cheves and strongly attached to him as a friend, told 
me in 1828 that his (Cheves') father was a noted Scotch 
Tory and Indian trader in Abbeville District, South 
Carolina, during the Revolutionary war. He moved 
from Abbeville, where Judge Cheves was born, to 
Charleston, after the capture of that city by the British. 
He kept a store on Sullivan's Island, and afterwards in 
Elliott street. The judge was a lad in his father's store, 
with very little education, and passing the Court House 
one day he was attracted by the clear, stentorian voice 
of Chancellor Marshall, who was arguing a case in 
court. He stopped and listened to the speech, and de- 
termined to become a lawyer himself. The next day he 
went to Marshall's office, told him who he was, and 
asked permission to read law with him. For many 
years after his admission to the bar his practice was very 
limited. He had too much honesty, said Judge Huger, 
to manage a bad case ; and the expression was a common 



Langdon Cheves. 243 

one in Charleston, " If you have a good case employ 
Cheves, but if you have a bad one go to Drayton." No 
one must infer from this, however, that Colonel Drayton 
was not a gentleman of the highest honor and purest 
integrity. In this respect he had no superior anywhere. 

At the time I had this conversation with Judge 
Huger, Judge Cheves was residing in Pennsylvania, 
where he had moved after his election to the Presidency 
of the United States Bank. Judge Huger then ex- 
pressed the wish that Cheves might yet be elected Presi- 
dent of the United States. " What a beautiful illustra- 
tion it Avould be," said Judge Huger, " of the theory of 
our government, to see such a man, rising from poverty 
and obscurity, without education or the patronage and in- 
fluence of family or friends, to the highest office within 
the gift of the people by his great talents, high and noble 
qualities, and persevering industry and energy." Judge 
Huger spoke of Cheves as the most self-willed man he 
ever knew. He relied on the judgment of no one, and 
was influenced by no one's opinions where they were 
contrary to his own. But notwithstanding this firmness, 
self-will and self-reliance, he was as sensitive as a woman 
to the criticisms of the world. He was terribly annoyed 
whilst president of the bank by the complaints and 
charges made against him. He determined to pay no 
dividends to the stockholders till the finances of the 
bank were in a better condition. There were hundreds 
dependent on their dividends for their support. The 
clamor against him became furious, but he knew the 
salvation of the bank depended upon the course he was 
pursuing ; and whilst he felt deeply the censure of the 
people and the press, he could not be driven from his 
purpose. 

Whilst Judge Cheves had all the sensitiveness to abuse 
and detraction, he had none of that false shame which 
we too oflen meet with in life. As evidence of this, 
Judge Butler told me he once heard Judge Cheves speak, 
with child-like simplicity, of his being a hired day 



244 Langdon Cheves. 

laborer to plow whilst a boy. For many years after his 
admission to the bar^ he was very diffident about writing 
anything for publication in consequence of his defective 
education. The first article ever written by him for the 
press was an obituary notice of the liev. Mr. Buist, of 
Charleston, which has been recently republished on 
account of the subject and the writer. Judge Cheves 
wrote remarkably Avell. In the latter part of his life his 
style was glowing and rhapsodical. His speech at the 
Nashville convention, on the American Union, was like 
a translated poem. It Avas written out and read to the 
convention. Judge Cheves was a very decided dis- 
unionist, but utterly opposed to nullification and seces- 
sion by one State. He had too much wisdom, good 
sense and practical knowledge of the world to adopt any 
such folly as that. In the days of nullification, dis- 
unionist as he Avas, he acted with the Union party in 
opposing nullification. In the days of secession he acted 
with the co-oi)eration party in South Carolina, and spoke 
most Avisely and feelingly of the hopeless folly of sepa- 
rate State action. He was in favor of a Southern con- 
vention to determine as to the mode and measure of re- 
dress on the part of the Southern States. 

I met Judge Cheves at Stewart's hotel, in Charleston, 
in 1836, when he took occasion to speak of the vassalage 
of the South to the North, and the great prosperity which 
would flow into the Southern seaports if the Federal 
Union were dissolved. After finishing his lecture, he 
picked up his cloak, and throwing it around him, said, 
" It does not become me, however, to express such senti- 
ments to you," and left the room. The judge was well 
acquainted with my ardent love and devotion to the 
Union at that time, and felt assured that nothing he could 
say would change my well settled convictions on that 
subject. The same evening he spoke to me about the 
changas which had taken place in Charleston since he 
was a lad in his father's store in Elliott street. In an 
address which I once delivered before the Erskine Col- 



Langdon Cheves. 245 

lege, I mentioLied the great men given to the country 
by Abbeville District. I named four — Calhoun, 
Cheves, McDuffie and Petigru — any one of whom, I 
said, would have characterized an era or a nation. In 
return for a copy of this address. Judge Cheves wrote 
me a kind letter and thanked me for my kind notice of 
him. 

Like Hugh S. Legare, Judge Cheves is said to have 
associated with very few persons whilst a member of the 
South Carolina Legislature. He generally walked to 
the State House alone, and returned alone. Whilst in 
his room he was too much absorbed with business to see 
company. In Congress he and Clay, Calhoun, Lowndes, 
and Bibb, of Kentucky, messed to2:ether. It was called 
the " war mess.'' What a bright constellation they were 
of American genius, eloquence and ability. When they 
heard of our first hard-won victory they were so much 
elated, said Judge Cheves, that, like school boys, they 
sprang up, and in the excess of their joy danced a four- 
handed reel ! On the bench. Judge Cheves was dis- 
tinguished for his learning and ability, and it is to be re- 
gretted that he resigned his seat there for the Presi- 
dency of the United States Bank. His great intellec- 
tual endowments would have added lustre to the South 
Carolina judiciary, and rendered the decisions of the 
court of the highest authority all over the Union. 

In the latter part of his life he became self-indulgent 
and inert. He seemed to withdraw from society and the 
world. His noble intellect became impaired by age. In 
conclusion, I will say that South Carolina never pro- 
duced an abler, purer, or more unostentatious son. 



JOEL R. POINSETT. 

I was on terras of great intimacy with Mr. Poinsett in 
the latter part of his life. He resided in Greenville for 
several years just before his death, and I was a frequent 
visitor at his house. These visits were always pleasant 
and instructive. No one could associate with Mr. Poin- 
sett Avithout acquiring mucji valuable information. He 
had traveled all over the civilized world, and had seen 
all the great men of Europe and America. He was a 
very observing man, and treasured up all he had seen 
and heard. He was a wise and practical man, far-seeing 
and sagacious. His health was always delicate, and it is 
amazing that one with so fragile a constitution could 
have undergone the labor and endured the fatigue in his 
travels and occupations through life. Whilst Mr. Poin- 
sett was a member of Mr. Van Buren's cabinet, he resided 
altogether in Washington, and never came to his moun- 
tain home in Greenville. I saw nothing of him during 
that period. As soon as Mr. Van Buren was beaten by 
General Harrison, Mr. Poinsett returned to Greenville 
and continued to make it his summer residence till his 
death. He was fond of society, and had his friends with 
him constantly. His house, and his grounds around, 
showed what good taste can do in the way of improve- 
ments, with little expense. I made the purchase for him 
without his ever having seen the place. The buildings 
and improvements were all rude and unfinished. His 
fortune had gone, and his means were limited. But 
with a few hundred dollars he re-formed the house, laid 
out his grounds, planted his hedges, grapery, orchard, 
flowers, etc. The appearance of everything was entirely 



Joel R. Poinsett. 247 

changed, and the place was admired by all who saw it 
for its beauty and tasteful improvements. 

My first acquaintance with Mr. Poinsett commenced 
in 1830. He was then a member of the State Legisla- 
ture, and had just returned from Mexico, where he had 
represented the Government for several years as our min- 
ister. He had previously been a member of Congress ; 
had written a work on Mexico, where he had been years 
before, in his travels over the world. During the nulli- 
fication excitement, Mr. Poinsett was the leader of the 
Union party in South Carolina. He organized it, and 
planned all its operations. He was in constant corre- 
spondence with General Jackson, and suggested the re- 
pairs and reinforcements of the forts around Charleston. 
He originated the AVashington societies throughout the 
State, as a set-olf to the nullification clubs. But this or- 
ganization came too late to save the State. The political 
battle had been fought, and the victory won by our op- 
ponents. Revolutions never take a backward step. 

Mr. Poinsett was of French descent. He told me 
that his ancestor, Avho first emigrated to South Carolina, 
was a silversmith. Mrs. Poinsett, who was of a very 
proud aristocratic family in the State, did not like to hear 
him speak of his artisan grandfather. 

He inherited a large fortune, and spent a great deal of 
it in his youth in traveling over Europe, Asia and South 
America. He was elected a member of our Legislature 
from Charleston whilst a very young man. His book 
on Mexico was written in early life, and is a work of 
great interest. It was republished in England, and had 
a wide circulation. 

When he first arrived in Mexico, as American Min- 
ister, he told me that the British Ambassador very kindly 
proposed to take him under his protection. But, said 
Mr. Poinsett, " I was disposed to set up for myself.^^ In 
a short time he superseded the English Minister, and be- 
came all-powerful with the Mexican government. His 
controlling influence with the President of the Republic 



248 Joel R. Poinsett. 

was so great that it caused dissatisfaction, not only with 
the foreign ministers, but with the people of Mexico, and 
the President was forced to ask his recall of the United 
States government. Mr. Poinsett told me that he said 
to the President of Mexico, when he informed him that 
he had been compelled to ask his recall, that he had 
signed his death warrant, and would be executed in a 
short time after he left the country. This, unfortunately, 
proved true. The President was killed in a few months 
after Mr. Poinsett quit Mexico. 

Whilst traveling in Russia, Mr. Poinsett had frequent 
interviews with the Emperor Alexander, and long con- 
versations with him on the nature and character of the 
American Republic. In one of these conversations 
Alexander said to him : "If I were not Emperor of 
Russia, I would like to be a citizen of your republic.^' 

In Turkey, Mr. Poinsett told me that he once saw a 
remarkable cargo of merchandise on its way to market in 
Constantinople. Nothing more nor less than wagons 
freighted with young ladies from Georgia and Circassia ! 
They Avere partially concealed by lattice worked frames 
covering the wagons. He could see, hoAvever, their 
bright eyes peering through the lattice work. In Flor- 
ence he met Tallien, Avho brought Robespierre to the 
guillotine. Mr. Poinsett complimented him on his bold- 
ness and great daring in denouncing Robespierre in the 
Chamber of Deputies, Avhilst he was at the zenith of his 
power and bloody rule in France. Tallien said there 
was no boldness in it. It was simply an act of despera- 
tion on his part. He knew that his arrest had been or- 
dered, and that he Avould be executed the next day. He 
therefore denounced Robespierre as a tyrant in order to 
save his own life. 

I was dining with Mr. Poinsett one day in company 
with General Thompson. No one else was at the table. 
Mrs. Poinsett had retired. General Thompson stated 
that John Q. Adams told him that when he was elected 
President, Mr. Calhoun and the South Carolina delega- 



Joel R. Poinsett. 249 

tion in Congress sent him a message by one of the mem- 
bers, that if he would not appoint Henry Clay to a seat 
in his cabinet, they would support his administration. I 
noticed that Mr. Poinsett's countenance changed, and he 
made no remark about it. Shortly afterwards, Thompson 
left the table. Whilst he was absent, Mr. Poinsett said 
tome: "That story of Thompson's is true." On our 
return to the village, Gen. Thompson asked me if I did 
not observe a change in Poinsett's countenance when he 
mentioned what Adams had told him. I replied that I 
did, and that after he left the room Poinsett remarked 
that this statement of Adams was true. We both con- 
cluded that Poinsett himself was the member of Congress 
who carried the message to Adams. The reply of Adams 
was that the great West was entitled to be represented in 
his cabinet, and he knew of no one to be preferred to 
Clay. 

Mr. Poinsett was a wise, practical man, full of infor- 
mation on all subjects, acquired more by his travels and 
association with the great and learned, than by reading 
and the study of books. He was a great tactician and 
manager, and would have made a great general. He 
conversed well, wrote well and spoke well. He had 
great taste in all the fine arts, and had the faculty of 
making every thing about him look pretty. He was a 
great admirer of flowers, plants and shrubbery. In his 
manners he was a most pleasant and agreeable gentleman, 
simple, unaffected and unpretending. His appearance 
was not striking or attractive. He delighted in agricul- 
tural pursuits, and took a deep interest in all the im- 
provements of his farm. He lived the greater part of 
his life a bachelor, and then married Mrs. Pringle, whom 
he had addressed before her first marriage, as I was in- 
formed by Judge Huger. They were a most happy 
couple. She had been a widow about twenty years be- 
fore her marriage to Mr. Poinsett. 

In the latter part of his life he became a communicant 
of the Episcopal Church. He was small in stature, with 



250 Joel R. Poinsett. 

a decidedly French face. He had great public spirit; 
favored all improvements in the country, and did all he 
could to promote them. He was for several years Super- 
intendent of Public Works in South Carolina, and super- 
vised the building of the Saluda turnpike over the 
mountains. ^Ir. Poinsett, Col. John T. Coleman and 
myself started the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, 
and with the aid of Gen. Thompson and others labored 
faithfully for its success. 

Mr. Poinsett^s administration of the War Department 
was a most successful one. He was the successor of Gen. 
Cass, who left, as Mr. Poinsett informed me, a great 
many cases undecided in the department involving grave 
questions and large amounts of money. They were all 
disposed of satisfactorily in a few months. Mr. Poinsett 
originated the flying artillery, which produced quite a 
revolution in the art of Avar, and for which the country 
owes him a debt of gratitude. He had a very sugges- 
tive mind, and was most sagacious and far-seeing in all 
his suggestions. He Avas sincerely devoted to the Federal 
Union, and foretold the bloody consequences and ulti- 
mate failure of secession — with the loss of slavery. He 
said, in conversation with Mr. Calhoun, at his OAvn table 
in Washington, he required an explanation of some views 
which Mr. Calhoun had expressed, who said to him, " Do 
you not remember that Rawlins LoAvndes requested it to 
be engraved on his tombstone, that he was opposed to 
the Federal Union ? ^' " I now understand you," said Mr. 
Poinsett, "and shall oppose you to the death.' They never 
had any intercourse afterwards. 

The death of Mr. Poinsett was a serious loss to the so- 
ciety of Greenville, and his friends all over the State. 
His health had been feeble all his life, but he took won- 
derful care of himself, and lived to a good old age. 



HUGH S. LEGARE. 

This profound scholar, brilliant writer, and finished 
orator, lawyer and statesman, died at the early age of 
forty-six, whilst he was attorney-general of the United 
States, and acting Secretary of State. Had he lived to a 
ripe old age, and gone on increasing in learning and 
scholarship as he did in youth and manhood, he would 
have left no superior behind him in England or America. 
Mr. Legare was a native of South Carolina, of Scotch and 
Huguenot descent, educated at the South Carolina Col- 
lege, elected a member of the State Legislature for many 
years in succession, then attorney-general of the State, 
and appointed by President Jackson, Minister to Brus- 
sels. On his return home, after an absence of four years, 
he was elected a member of Congress from Charleston, 
and greatly distinguished himself as an eloquent and 
brilliant orator during his brief Congressional career. 

I first saw Hugh Swinton Legare in the fall of 1826. 
He was then a member of the House of Representatives, 
and his reputation for learning, talents, eloquence and 
scholarship, was very high indeed. In fact, he brought' 
his reputation with him when he entered college in his 
fourteenth year, as is stated by Col. William C. Preston, 
his college companion. I have frequently heard it said 
that Legare entered college with more learning and schol- 
arship than McDuffie had when he left college, though 
the one was a boy who came to be educated, and the 
other was a man grown, who had finished his education, 
and was destined to rank with the greatest men of 
America. I remember hearing Judge Huger say that 
when Legare graduated, he went to the commencement 



252 Hugh S. Legare. 

out of respect to the college, and to see the ladies. Whilst 
chatting with some of them, his ear was attracted by a 
sentence in Legare's valedictory. He became interested, 
and his attention was riveted on the oration till it was 
ended. He inquired who this young man was, and 
asked one of the professors who wrote his valedictory for 
him. The professor replied that Legare had written it 
himself, and that he Avas the only man in the whole col- 
lege who could have written it. The subject was, " The 
inlluence of the imagination upon human happiness." 

I have heard Calhoun, Webster, McDufiie, Hayne, 
Preston and many others of the distinguished orators of 
the United States, but in my estimation Legare was a far 
more finished orator than any of them. He had a fine, 
noble voice, and seemed to have the same command over 
it that a lady has over the keys of the instrument on 
which she is playing. It is said that the multitude, the 
great masses of the common people, are better judges of 
eloquence than the highly educated few. An old friend 
of mine. Col. Benajan Dunham, remarkable for his good 
sense and judgment, very cool and dispassiouate, and not 
easily moved by anything, once heard Legare speak in 
some commercial convention in Charleston. The old 
gentleman, on his return home, said he had not only 
never heard anything like it, but it had surpassed all his 
conceptions of eloquence and public speaking. Judge 
Cheves, on his return to South Carolina, after his resi- 
dence in Philadelphia, heard Legare's speech on the judi- 
ciary system of South Carolina before the Legislature, 
and pronounced it above criticism. In listening to Le- 
gare you not only had your feelings roused and excited, 
as the highest eloquence never fails to do, but at the 
same time, you saw there was a depth of thought and a 
beautiful finish in every expression, which struck and 
charmed your judgment. It was a combination of the 
force of Demosthenes, the beauty of Cicero, and the bril- 
liancy of Burke, 



Hugh S. Leqare, 253 

In Congress, Legare made a speech soon after taking 
his seat, on the sub-treasury, which was equal to Ed» 
mund Burke's greatest efforts in the British Parhament. 
It drew forth the highest praise and warmest congratula- 
tions from all who heard it. General Thompson, who 
was in Congress at the same time, told me that when he 
went up to Legare to congratulate him on his great effort, 
he burst into tears and said, ^^ My greatest gratification 
will be in knowing that my success will please my 
mother/' 

As a scholar, profoundly learned in all ancient and 
modern literature, Hugh S. Legare had but few equals 
in Europe or America. The Grecian and Roman classics 
were as familiar to him as household words. He spoke 
and wrote with great purity, the French, Italian, Span- 
ish, and German languages, and had read and studied 
their standard works. In order to master all this learn- 
ino; and knowledo;e, he studied from his earliest school 
days, seventeen hours in twenty-four. He spoke French 
with so much accuracy, that a French lady said to him, 
that he was too Attic to be an Athenian, alluding to the 
story of a foreigner who professed to be a Grecian, and 
was detected by the accuracy Avith which he spoke the 
language. He had acquired his knowledge of it from 
books, which was more perfect than if the language had 
been his mother tongue. 

The contributions of Legare to the Southern Review 
and New York Review on Grecian and Roman literature, 
the civil law, life of Byron, and various other subjects, 
are not surpassed by any of the essays of Lord Mol^ulay. 
The style of Washington Irving was greatly adnjired in 
England for its purity and classic taste, but that of L/e- 
gare was more perfect and classic, with greater strength 
and beauty. 

The fame of Hugh S. Legare as an orator and literary 
man induced the multitude to suppose that he could not 
be a profound lawyer, and consequently his practice, for 
many years, in Charleston, was very limited. But after 



254 Hugh S. Legare. 

his election as attorney-general of the State, it became 
known that he was a great lawyer, as well as a great 
scholar, orator and writer. He went on to Washington 
to attend to some case there in the Supreme Court, and 
his argument showed such familiarity with the civil law 
that it attracted the attention of Mr. Livingston, then 
Secretary of State, who procured for him the appoint- 
ment of minister to Belgium, where he would have an 
opportunity of perfecting his study, of the civil law. 
After his return to the tjnited States, and his appoint- 
ment as attorney-general under the administration of 
President Tyler, he distinguished himself in the argu- 
ment of several cases in the Supreme Court, and Mr. 
Justice Story pronounced him one of the profoundest 
lawyers who had ever appeared in his court. 

In his appearance, Mr. Legare was a very remarkable 
man. His bust Avas a noble one, and he appeared to a 
great advantage seated in his chair in the House of 
Representatives, but when he rose to speak, his legs were 
so short that he seemed dwarfed. It is said when a 
child, his limbs were well proportioned, but some disease 
afterwards deformed them. His head and face were very 
fine and striking. But in walking he was ungainly, and 
I noticed that he seldom walked to or from the State 
House in company with any one. He never married. 
He was very sensitive and morbid on the subject of his 
personal appearance. I have understood that he said he 
would give all his learning and talents for the manly and 
graceful form of Preston. His article on Lord Byron, 
and his allusion to his deformity, and his lordship's sen- 
sitiveness on that subject, seemed to have been written 
with great feeling and sympathy. 

In nis manners and intercourse with the world, Legare 
was austere and reticent. He had none of the arts or 
feelings of the demagogue or popular man. Hence his 
popularity and official honors were owing entirely to his 
talents and attainments. When he was elected attorney- 
general of South Carolina, be was in a minority, a Union 



Hugh S. Legare. 256 

man, and had but little personal popularity in the Legis- 
lature. There was somethino;; beautiful and touch ino^ in 
his devotion through life to his noble mother, on whom 
had devolved solely his education and rearing. He 
thought of her gratification only when honors and praises 
were clustering around him. Such a son must have had 
a noble and loving heart. 

^Ir. Legare died suddenly, in the city of Boston, and 
his remains were, some years afterwards, brought to 
Charleston by his friend and warm admirer, Richard 
Yeadon, Esq., where they were buried, in Magnolia cem- 
etery, and a monument erected over them by his friends. 
Well may South Carolina be proud of her illustrious 
scholar and orator, Hugh Swinton Legare. His essays 
and diary have been collected by his sister, and published 
in two volumes, with a short biographical sketch by E. 
W. Johnston, Esq. 



JAMES L. PETIGRU. 

I regarded Mr. Petigrii, whilst living, as the most 
learned able, and accomplished lawyer in the United 
States, and he was so regarded by many others, who were 
more capable of judging of his attainments than myself. 
I have never known a more noble hearted gentleman, a 
more sincere friend, or a more charming companion ; and 
this is the estimate of all who knew him. As a statesman 
and a politician, he was not equal to many others. His 
great talents and abilities Avere devoted, almost exclusively, 
to his profession. He was a Federalist of the old school, 
and had no very great confidence in popular or republican 
institutions. In other words, he did not believe that the 
masses of people had virtue and intelligence enough to 
govern themselves wisely and properly for any length of 
time. Like Washington and Hamilton, he doubted the 
experiment the American people were making in self- 
government, and was afraid it would not be permanent. 
But like them, also, he would have been willing to lay 
down his life in defence of the effort the people had made 
to administer themselves their own government. 

Mr. Petigru came to Greenville in the summer of 
1825, whilst I was reading law, and was frequently in 
Judge Earle's office. I had heard of him as a lawyer of 
great distinction, and as Attorney General of the State, 
which office he then filled, and was greatly amused at his 
peculiar screeching voice and witty expressions. I saw 
nothing more of Mr. Petigru till I met him, several 
years afterwards, in the Union Convention, at Columbia. 
I was struck by a speech which he made one night, in our 
caucus, on the love of country. He said he had no love for 



James L. Petigru. 257 

the swamps of the lower country^ or the mountaius of the 
upper country. — " Where liberty dwells, there is my coun- 
try !" Mr. Petigru was not in the habit of attending the sit- 
tings of the Legislature for several years after my admis- 
sion to the bar. I think he was engaged professionally 
before the Legislature of Georgia about that time. I met 
him in the Legislature as a member of that body in 1836, 
and we were thrown very much together in our business 
and associations. I became greatly attached to him, and 
our relations continued of the most cordial nature till his 
death in 1863. 

Mr. Petigru was a most devoted Union man through- 
out his life. He never wavered or hesitated in his course^ 
or failed to express his opinions boldly and fearlessly ; 
and yet no man in the State commanded more entirely 
the respect and confidence of the opposite party. The 
leading Secessionists and Nullifiers were all his personal 
friends, and remained so till his death. In 1851, when 
I started the Southern Patriot, amidst the terrible excite- 
ment and storm of secession, which had swept every 
Union paper out of existence in South Carolina, Mr. 
Petigru wrote me a most beautiful letter stating that my 
prospectus " had revived his heart for the republic. 
Until he saw that, he had despaired of the Union." He 
was ever one of the faithful few amidst the faithless in 
South Carolina. Like myself, he had always respected 
those of the secession party who were governed by prin- 
ciple, but he scorned those who betrayed their principles 
through cowardice, or a love of popularity and office. 
When the Union was broken, either of us would have 
defended the State as readily as any ofthose who brought 
this great calamity upon the country. But Mr. Petigru 
through his long life avoided taking any active part in 
politics. His great intellect and noble heart were devoted 
to the law as a science and a study, and it is as a lawyer 
that he will be known to fame. His code of the statute 
laws of South Carolina, just completed at his death, will 



258 James L. Petigru. 

be a noble and enduring monument of his wisdom and 
ability. 

The practice of Mr. Petigru was always profitable, but 
his speculations and generosity ever kept him poor. On 
several occasions I urged him to consent to take a seat 
on the bench. He uniformly replied that he was too 
poor to entertain such an ambition. In one of his last 
letters on this subject, he said to me that he was then 
working for his creditors, and that he could not, in honor, 
cease to work for them whilst life lasted, till their debts 
were paid. He then hoped, in a iew years, to be able to 
discharge all of his liabilities. 

Mr. Petigru was born in Abbeville District. His 
ancestral name was written Pettigrew, as General Petti- 
grew continued to write his; but in college Mr. Petigru 
changed the spelling of his name. His mother was of 
French descent, and his father Irish. On the death of 
his mother, he aud his wife took all his brothers and sis- 
ters, educated them, and saw them well married and 
settled in life. Mr. Petigru was bordering on eighty at 
his death, and yet there was scarcely a gray hair in his 
head. He labored most arduously throughout his life, 
and yet he enjoyed life with a good deal of freedom. He 
drank freely at times, but, as he once told me, he always 
had his gauge, and never went beyond it. 'No one, he 
said, ought ever to get drunk and fall down, or not to be 
able to preserve the proprieties of life. He should know 
when he has as much as he can carry or ought to drink. 
Mr. Petigru was short and stout in his person, with a 
full face and rather long head. His forehead was not 
high. His features and countenance were pleasant and 
prepossessing; his manners plain and simple. There 
was no pretension or affectation about him. He drew 
every one to him, high or low, by his cordial heart. 
Everybody loved him, down to the servants Avho waited 
on him at the hotels. He was one of the best writers in 
the State or United States. His address before the 
South Carolina College, on the semi-centennial anniver- 



James L. Petigru. 259 

sary of that iustitutiou, was a most finished production, 
and would have done credit to the ablest writers of Eng- 
land or America. As a speaker, Mr. Petigru was 
peculiar. He did not deal in rhetoric or declamation, but 
his speeches were always masterpieces of logic. His lan- 
guage was beautiful and happy. He was a man of great 
taste in language and careful in the use of words. No 
one could express himself with more clearness and precision, 
or in purer language. His voice was a singular one, and 
he could at any time by his intonations and wit convulse 
his audience with laughter. It was impossible for any 
one to be grave when he was disposed to indulge in his 
peculiar humor. 

Just previous to the secession of South Carolina, Mr. 
Petigru came to my room, in Columbia, and had with 
me a long and very interesting conversation in regard to 
the contemplated action of the State and the consequences 
of disunion. We both deplored the madness and folly 
which possessed the public mind in South Carolina at 
that time. Mr. Petigru said it was most amazing that 
the parish gentlemen should be so strongly in favor of 
disunion. They had more at stake than any others in 
preserving the Union, and would be the first to suffer 
from secession. They lived near the sea-coast, and it 
would be impossible to prevent the Northern armies 
landing and carrying ofP all their slaves, and, perhaps, 
destroying their plantations. He thought with me that 
disunion would be the death knell of slavery. He said 
there was something in the heart of every good man that 
told him slavery was wrong; but that we had inherited 
the institution from our forefathers, and it could not be 
changed now for the benefit of the slave. We had to 
defend it, for in doing so we simply defended ourselves 
against the torch of the incendiary and the knife of the 
assassin. He deprecated most indignantly the acts of 
violence which had been committed on the innocent 
Northern men who had come here. He alluded to a case 
he had prosecuted in Walterboro'. I told him what I 



260 James L. Petigru. 

had aid to Governor Means, who inquired of me what 
course I would take after the State seceded ? In 
reply, I said that I had been trying for the last thirty 
years to save the State from the horrors of disunion, and 
that they were now^ all going to the devil, and I would 
go with them. He said I had expressed his own 
sentiments and feelings, and that Ave were going to the 
devil. 

Mr. Petigru always entertained very strong Federal 
feelings and sentiments. During the war of 1812, there 
was some fellow who took offence at something Mr. Peti- 
gru had said or done, and called him " a damned rascal,'^ 
which Mr. Petigru did not notice. Immediately after- 
wards he called liim "a damned Federalist," whereupon 
Mr. Petigru knocked him down. His friends expressed 
great surprise that he had condescended to resent anything 
the fellow had said. Not having noticed the first insult, 
they thought it wholly unnecessary to have resented the 
second. '^ No," said Mr. Petigru, " I did not care about 
his calling me a damned rascal, for I knew no one would 
believe him ; but when he called me a Federalist, I felt 
that there was some truth in it, and that if I did not re- 
sent the imputation, the by-stauders would believe it." 

Mr. Petigru was, all his life, a religious man, and had 
great respect for all the observances of the Episcopal 
Church, though not a communicant. A young chancellor 
from the country, who was a member of the Presbyterian 
Church, went to Charleston to hold court for the first 
time, and was not aware that Good Friday was so sacredly 
kept in the city. Thursday evening something was said 
about adjourning over till Monday. The chancellor pro- 
tested, and said that he had come to dispatch the business 
of the court as soon as possible, and that he should sit the 
next day. Mr. Petigru pleasantly remarked to him that 
the next day was Good Friday ! The Presbyterian chan- 
cellor replied that it made no difference, he could hold 
court on Good Friday as well as any other day. Mr. 
Petigru was a little miffed at the want of reverence on 



James L. Petigru. 261 

the part of his Honor, and the curt maimer in which he 
repHed. He gravely said, " May it please your Honor, 
I have never heard of but one judge holding court on 
Good Friday, and that was Pontius Pilate ! " 

Soon after his admission to the bar, there was an old 
man who brought him a little summary process of twenty 
dollars to defend. Mr. Petigru advised his (dient very 
confidently that he would defeat the case. The old man 
proved troublesome, and was asking Mr. Petigru, every 
time he saw him, something about the case. At last he 
said to his client, " Go home and make yourself easy 
about the case, for I pledge you my word that you will 
never be troubled with the case any more." The old 
man followed Mr. Petigru's advice. The case came on, 
however, and the judge decided against M. Petigru. He 
took an appeal and the appeal was dismissed. Remem- 
bering what he had told his old and troublesome client, 
he went and settled the decree and costs out of his own 
purse. Two or three years afterwards, this old man was 
sued again in another case for a sum considerably larger 
than the first. Pie came to Mr. Petigru's office with the 
copy- writ, and asked him to serve it just as he did the other. 
Mr. Petigru begged to be excused, and said it would not 
be convenient for himto do ! 

Mr. Petigru was very bitterly opposed to the clergy 
interfering in politics and preaching political sermons, as 
they were in the habit of doing, North and South, before 
the war. He thought they should keep aloof from all 
worldly affairs as much as possible. In speaking of the 
part the clergy had acted, in both sections of the country, 
in bringing on the war by their appeals to the sectional 
feelings, prejudices and passions of their congregations, he 
said it had done more to lessen their usefulness, and in- 
jure the cause of religion, with those who were not mem- 
bers of their churches than an3i:hing that had ever 
happened. I asked him one day to go and hear a 
certain clergyman who had been in battle, and boasted of 



262 James L. Petigru. 

having killed one of the enemy. He replied : "' No, 
Perry, I cannot listen to a homicidal preacher." 

In a congressional election which excited a good deal 
of interest in Charleston, the friends of Mr. Petigru tried 
to persuade him to vote against the incumbent. He re- 
plied to them, '^ No, no ; the incumbent is fool enough for 
me, and I have no ambition to improve on him by send- 
ing a bigger one to Congress." 

Mr. Petigru had no talent for music. It is said that 
one evening he heard a young lady tuning her guitar. 
Meeting her shortly afterwards, he complimented her on 
the sweet music he had just had the pleasure of hearing 
from her. The young lady was greatly surprised at the 
compliment, and said " I was only tuning my guitar, — 
I played nothing ! " I remember once saying to Mrs. 
Fisher of Philadelphia, who Avas very fond of music, that 
I could not tell one tune from another. She replied that 
she did not know how it was possible. 

The morning after South Carolina seceded from the 
Federal Union, Mr. Perry Duncan, who was a member 
of the Convention, met Mr. Petigru in the streets of 
Charleston and asked him what he thought of it. Mr. Peti- 
gru replied that no good could come of it. He was then 
asked by Mr. Duncan if he did not think England would 
be forced to sustain the South on account of their cotton. 
He replied that he did not. ^^How," said Mr. Duncan, 
" can the world get along without the cotton of the 
Southern States ? " Mr. Petigru replied, " that if the 
Southern States were sunk into the ocean, the world 
would get along very well without them. It had done 
so for thousands of years before. the Southern States were 
settled, or cotton was cultivated." 

In Columbia, during secession times, Mr. Petigru was 
asked by a Northern gentleman, " where the lunatic asy- 
lum was?" He replied: ^^The asylum is up on the 
hill, but the lunatics are all over the State.".. 



ALFRED HUGER. 

This high-toned and noble gentleman has been gath- 
ered to his fathers, fnll of honors. He was the last 
of that old school of Carolina gentlemen which gave 
character and position to the State, and made the term 
" Carolinian '^ respected and respectable throughout the 
Union. It was the grand type of the American gentle- 
man. How sad the reflection, that all has departed from 
our State, and the high officials of South Carolina at 
home and abroad, are now synonymous with rogue, 
traitor and scoundrel. 

Mr. Huger was a Roman in person and character, in 
heart and intellect. He was tall, slender and courtly in 
his appearance, with a striking face and symmetrical 
features. His head and face would have adorned a 
Grecian or Roman medal. In his manners, he was 
always grave and dignified, yet cordial, frank and simple. 
For honor, sincerity and probity of character, no one of 
his illustrious compeers and associates in that proud old 
school of Carolina gentlemen in which he was brought 
up, could surpass him. Higher praise no one can bestow 
or desire. He was a patriot in every thought and feel- 
ing of his nature, and moreover, he was a hero by na- 
ture, and would have died cheerfully a martyr in defence 
of his principles. 

In the beginning of our political excitement in 1830, 
Mr. Huger's associates were almost all of the States' 
rights party, and he himself was a States' rights man, 
and died such. But when they adopted the doctrine of 
nullification, he regarded them as taking a position not 
warranted by States' rights in the Constitution, or in 



264 Alfred Hugek. 

the nature of our Federal compact. Long, and most 
assiduously did they strive, by every means in their power, 
to retain him in their ranks, and make him a convert 
to their new doctrine. He resisted boldly and frankly 
every effort they made to win him over, and scorned all 
their overtures of honor and distinction. They proposed 
to make him governor, as I have heard him say. His 
little parish, which he represented in the Senate, for a 
great many years, undertook to instruct him, and in 
case of disobedience to those instructions, requested him 
to resign his seat, and let them elect some one who would 
carry out their political views. When I met him that 
fall in Columbia, he said to me, that he would just as 
soon think of resigning his commission as commanding 
general on the eve of a great battle. 

Mr. Huger was elected a member of the State Con- 
vention in 1832, by the people of Sj^artanburg District, 
although he resided in Charleston, and, perhaps, had 
never been in the district in his life. They knew that 
he was a Union man, and his high character was a 
sufficient guarantee to them of his fidelity to his trust. 
A great effort was made by the Union party to send to 
this convention w^herever they had a majority, their 
purest, ablest and best men Avithout regard to their resi- 
dence. Judge Huger was elected in Horry District; 
Chief Justice O'JSTeall and Judge Richardson were also 
elected in Spartanburg ; Governor Middleton was elected 
in Greenville, who had just returned to Charleston from 
his Russian mission, afler an absence of fifteen or twenty 
years. Mr. Huger came to Columbia when the con- 
vention assembled, and the first word he said to me 
when we met in the streets, was : " This is no place for 
us, we have no business here, let them carry out their 
\vicked folly, if they will, we cannot prevent them, and 
should not countenance them by our presence." But he 
yielded his convictions to the judgment of others, and 
took his seat in the convention. 



Alfred Huger. 265 

Mr. Huger was a most eloquent declaim er. He spoke 
with great earnestness, and every one who heard him, 
saw and felt his sincerity. He spoke often in the State 
Senate, and I have frequently listened to him for hours 
with thrilled feelings. He had a fine voice, and his de- 
livery was admirable. You could not look at his manly 
form, and hear his noble effusions of honor, virtue and 
patriotism, without thinking him worthy of being a 
Roman Senator in the purest and best days of the Re- 
public. In his old age he was a member of the State 
Convention which assembled for reconstructing the State 
under President Johnson's administration. He spoke 
frequently in the assembly, and always commanded the 
respect and attention of the members. He and Judges 
WardlaAv and Hawkins were sent by the convention to 
intercede with the President for the release of Jefferson 
Davis. In addressing President Johnson, he said, in 
effect, that South Carolina was willing to do anything 
which his Excellency might request. This was rather 
too broad a confidence to place in any one, thought 
Judge Hawkins, and he expressed in courteous terms, his 
dissent. Mr. Huger said to him afterwards, acknowl- 
edging the correction, " Well, sir, my last public act has 
been a blunder.'^ 

Judge Patterson, the son-in-law of President Johnson, 
told me that whilst the delegation above mentioned were 
at the White House, he said to Mr. Huger, ^^ I know 
more about you than, perhaps, you are aware of ^^ I 
hope it is nothing bad," said Mr. Huger. The judge 
then told him that he heard him make a political speech 
at Greenville in the days of nullification and secession. 
This speech was made by invitation of the citizens, and 
was regarded by all who heard it, as the best Union 
speech they had ever heard. Mr. Huger was on his 
return from the Virginia Springs. He rode on horse- 
back to the Springs and returned in the same way. 
When he reached the most fashionable of these Springs, 
he was assigned a very inferior room, and was indiffer- 



266 Alfked Huger. 

ently waited ou by the servants. He noticed that others 
Avho came after him in their carriages had better accom- 
modations than himself. Thereupon, he went to the 
landlord and told him to add to his registration, two 
horses and a servant, and give him accommodations ac- 
cordingly. 

Mr. Huger had no children, and he adopted a nephew 
who became a captain in the Confederate navy, and was 
killed at New Orleans. This nephew and adopted son 
had married the sister of Major-General Meade, of the 
United States army, who died prior to her husband. 
Mr. Alfred Huger had the children of his adopted son 
with him in Columbia at the time General Meade visited 
that city for the purpose of meeting me as Provisional 
Governor of the State. The General was in command 
at that time of all the Atlantic States. After we had 
arranged the business which brought us together, he 
said to me that he was going to call on Mr. Huger, to 
see his sister's children, and ask Mr. Huger to to let him 
take the children home with him to educate and bring 
up. He had understood Mr. Huger was in very strait- 
ened circumstances, and not able to support and educate 
the children. On his return he told me that Mr. Huger 
would not think of parting with the children, and deli- 
cately alluded to the fact, that their education at the 
North would be hostile to their native State and the 
memory of their gallant father. General Meade ac- 
quiesced in the views of Mr. Huger, and could not insist 
on taking the children. 

Whilst I was Provisional Governor, Mr. Huger 
called to see me one morning, at Nickerson's Hotel, in 
Columbia, just before starting to Charleston. I requested 
him to call and see General Sickles on his arrival in 
Charleston, and ask the gentlemen of the city to do so. 
I said General Sickles was in command of the State, 
and" it was better to treat him respectfully. He said he 
had been thinking about this matter himself, and he 
should regard my request as a command. When I first 



Alfred Huger. 267 

went on to Washington after my appointment, I called on 
the President and requested him to appoint Mr. Huger 
Postmaster, of Charleston. He promised to do so, and I 
so stated to Mr. Huger on my return to Columbia. He 
had never said one word to me about the appointment. 
There were a good many others who had applied to me 
for the appointment. Mr. Huger was appointed Post- 
master of the city by General Jackson, and continued in 
office till the close of the war. His predecessor had 
been appointed by Washington. Charleston had only 
had two postmasters at that time, from the organization 
of the Federal Government. But the iron-clad oath 
was an insuperable bar to Mr. Huger's restoration to 
the post-office. I thought, when I suggested the appoint- 
ment to the President, that this oath would not be 
exacted. 

When the civil war broke out between the North and 
the South, Mr. Huger, although a strong Union man, 
did not hesitate to go with his State. He closed his 
accounts as postmaster, with the United States, and de- 
posited the money due the Government in the Charleston 
Bank. He so informed the Postmaster-General. But 
the money was seized by the Confederate States, and 
after the war was over suit w^as brought against Mr. 
Huger and his sureties to recover this money, amounting 
to several thousand dollars. The case was heard before 
Judge Bryan, before all justice had fled the State, and 
the jury found a verdict in favor of Mr. Huger. 

In 1866 and 1867, I was engaged in writing some 
article against the Congressional reconstruction of South 
Carolina. Mr. Huger wrote me a very long letter, ap- 
proving of my articles, and enforcing the views I had 
taken, with additional argument and suggestions. There 
were few public men in South Carolina who so uni- 
formly commanded the respect of all parties as Alfred 
Huger. I do not remember that any one, in the highest 
excitement of politics, ever attempted to disparage him, 
or reflect on his honor and patriotism. 



268 Alfred Hugek. 

As an evidence of his fearless advocacy of justice, 
right and humanity, I will mention a single instance. 
In time of our Abolition excitement, the Legislature 
passed a law requiring all colored seamen to be lodged 
in jail during the stay of their vessel in any port in 
South Carolina. Mr. Huger had seen some seamen car- 
ried to jail under this law. He denounced it fiercely, 
and wrote me a letter whilst I was in the Legislature, to 
try and have the odious and unjust law repealed. It was 
rather dangerous to express such sentiments in Charles- 
ton at that time. I did make the attempt requested, 
but it failed signally. 

In mv remembrances of Judo;e Huwr, I have men- 
tioned the affectionate intimacy which existed between 
him and his cousin Alfred Huger. They were very 
much alike in their characters, thoughts and actions. 
The last time I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Alfred 
Huger, his mind seemed as clear and vigorous as it ever 
was. He was eighty-four years old at his death. But 
a few weeks prior to his death, I received a circular 
signed by him, proposing to erect a monument to the 
memory of William Gilmore Simms. 



WILLIAM DRAYTON. 

There was somethiDg in the character of Col. William 
Drayton that always reminded me of Washington. He 
had all of Washington's purity of character, his firmness, 
dignity, patriotism and high sense of honor. For ability, 
he was not inferior to Washington, had he had the great 
field of operation or theatre, on which the father of his 
country acted, to show his talents and wisdom. I know 
this is a sort of /cesa magistratis to compare any one to 
the illustrious founder of our Republic. It is thought 
not only in America, but in Europe, that Washington, 
of all public men, stands pre-eminent. This I admit 
most cordially ; but, at the same time, I believe there 
have been many others, unknown to fame, who Avould 
and could have acted as Washington did, under pre- 
cisely the same circumstances. 

Colonel Drayton stands high, very high, in the estima- 
tion of all who knew him, as a statesman and patriot. 
Immediately after the war of 1812, General Jackson re- 
commended him to President Monroe as Secretary of 
War. South Carolina has just cause to pride herself as 
the Roman matron did on her sons. No State in the 
Union, except perhaps, Virginia, can boast of a brighter 
galaxy of public men than South Carolina, in proportion 
to her population and territory. This was the case from 
her earliest history up to the recent destruction of all that 
is wise, patriotic or decent in public affairs. 

Colonel Drayton was born in South Carolina. His 
father moved from South Carolina, his native State, to 
Florida, previous to the American Revolution, and 
whilst that territory belonged to Great Britain. He was 



270 William Drayton. 

appointed Chief Justice of Florida, under the British 
crown, and remained there till Florida was receded to 
Spain. He then returned to South Carolina, and Avas 
immediately appointed a District Judge, and afterwards 
elected to the law bench. He had been educated in Eng- 
land. His distinguished son, the subject of this reminis- 
cence, was also educated in England, and read law there. 
He was admitted to the bar in South Carolina, established 
himself as a lawyer in Charleston, and succeeded to a 
most extensive and lucrative practice. He and Judge 
Cheves were at the head of the Charleston bar, and 
always on opposite sides. He was elected a member of 
the Legislature, and afterwards city judge, with a salary 
of thirty-five hundred dollars. In the Legislature he 
did not make himself prominent as a public speaker. I 
remember hearing Judge Huger say that Col. Drayton 
made only one speech whilst he was in the Legislature, 
and that was on the subject of selling chickens in Charles- 
ton. As City Judge, he discharged all the duties of his 
office with great ability and learning, till he was elected 
a member of Congress from Charleston. He served in 
Congress a number of years, but did not take as active a 
part in the deliberations of the House as his talents and 
ability entitled him to. Here again he was like Wash- 
ington, who never figured in a deliberative assembly as 
a public sj)eaker. 

Whilst Colonel Drayton was in Congress, the doctrine 
of nullification sprung up in South Carolina. Colonel 
Drayton was strongly opposed to the tariff for protec- 
tion ; but he was unwilling to resort to such a remedy 
as nullification, a remedy unconstitutional and futile in 
his estimation, for the purpose of opposing the tariff. 
He differed with the whole South Carolina delegation on 
this subject, and with his constituents. He published an. 
address at that time, which I remember w^as the begin- 
ning of the organization of parties in South Carolina, on 
the subject of the Federal Union. He declined being a 
candidate for re-election to Congress, and his pride and 



William Drayton. 271 

dignity were so much offended by the course of his 
friends and constituents, that he determined to leave the 
State, and moved to Philadelphia. Whilst he remained 
here, he took an active part in opposing nullification, 
and defending the American Union. His counsel and 
advice was again like that of Washington's in his fare- 
well address to the people of the United States* His 
removal was a great loss to South Carolina, and I have 
no doubt Colonel Drayton himself deeply regretted 
the necessity of his removal from his native State. 

In time of this political excitement, as in times of all 
political excitements, there was a disposition to calum- 
niate and traduce opponents. This feeling was carried 
so far that search was made into the character of a man's 
ancestry, to see whether there Avas not some stain or blot 
on their escutcheon. It was reported that Col. Dray- 
ton's father had been a tory in the Revolutionary war. 
In consequence of this report — said to have been founded 
on the assertion of Chancellor DeSaussure — I wrote the 
Chancellor and Judge Huger inquiring about the truth 
of the matter, and received from them the following 
letters, which are worthy of publication, in reference to 
Colonel Drayton's life and the character of his father : 

Columbia, 6ih September, 1831. 
Dear Sir: — I received your letter of tlie 3d September, stating 
that there was a report in circulation in Greenville " that the father 
of I ol. Drayton was a Tory during the Eevolutionary war," and 
that it was s^aid on my authority; and requesting information as to 
the fact. I have not the least hesitaiion in stating facts to you. 1 
remember that during my last circuit, I was asked two or perhaps 
three times, at diflierent places, who was the father of Col. Drayton, 
and what part he had taken during the Revolutionary war. My 
an.swer was as frunk then as it is now: That 1 had always under- 
stood that Mr. William Drayton, tlie father of Col. Drayton, who 
was an excellent lawyer, had been appointed a judge (or, I believe, 
Chief Justice), of East Florida, then a British Province, before the 
Kevolutiunary war ; that he was in office there, with a family, and 
settled before that contest commenced. He remained in his station. 
East a-« well as West Florida were ceded f>y Great Britain to Spain, 
at the close of the war. Mr. William Drayton, it was said, then 
went to England, and not long after came to his native State, with 
his fdmily, and settled here permanently. This is the sum of the 



272 William Drayton. 

story, and I did not expect that such a statement, given in answer to 
inquiries, made in the free conversation of private society, could or 
would have been used for political purposes, I certainly did not 
mean to communicate the idea to Mr. Drayton, the father, was a 
Tory, nor could I have used that term, for gentlemen situated as 
Mr. Drayton was, never were considered Tories. It must have been 
an inference drawn by some of the gentlemen to whom this com- 
anunication was made, that he who was not with us, was against us, 
and therefore was a Tory. But this was not the understanding of 
those days, for as Mr. Drayton was not in the United States during 
the Revolution, but held a commission in another Province, no 
blame was attached to him for remaining where he was. As evi- 
dence of this, I mention, from my own knowledge, that as soon as 
he returned to Carolina, he enjoyed the friendship of those distin- 
guished Whigs, Mr. John Rutledge, Mr. Edmund Rutledge, Gen. 
Chas. C. Pinckney, Tlios. Pinckney, and very many more of the 
most ardent Whigs of the Revolution. Nor was it mere civility. 
By their influence and his known talents and probity, he was very 
soon appointed Judge of the Court of Admiralty, then a Stale office ; 
and in the session of the Legislature of January and February, 1788, 
Mr. Drayton was elected to a seat on the Law Bench at the same 
time with our lamented Waties ; so too the venerable Judge Bay, 
who had also held office under the British Government, in West 
Florida, and the excellent and amiable Dr. Turnbull, father of Mr. 
Robert G. Turnbull, who both came and settled in Charleston, when 
the l^pauiards conquered West Florida, in 1778, were never consid- 
ered Tories They were respected and beloved, as they deserved 
to be; and Judge Bay was soon sent to the Legislature and the 
State Convention, and in February, 1791, was elected to our Law 
Bench, to which he has done honor. At that time Tories, and even 
the innocent and respectable sons of Tories, whom I could name, if 
necessary, were excluded by public opinron from public office for a 
much longer period. Jt is quite mortifying that answers made to 
the younger generation, who are anxious to know everything about 
the Revolution and its leaders, should be misapprehended and made 
use of for political objects. All Mr. Drayton's family in Carolina 
were Whigs, and there can be no doubt he would have been if he 
had been tliere. 

The long continued rains, often sweeping the crops in the low 
grounds on the rivers, have commenced the more distressing opera- 
tion of making the country sickly — Camden and Pee Dee are both 
said to be very, and we are looking for our turn here, for we appre- 
hend it will be universal. 

With great esteem, 

I remain yours, 
HENRY W. DeSAUSSURE. 
B. F. Perry, Esq. 



William Drayton. 273 

My Dear Sir : A Providential affliction has prevented me from 
answering your letter at an earlier period, and I now feel that I 
have not Ijeen able to collect as correct information upon the sub- 
ject of your letter as I could desire, or you perhaps be satisfied with. 

Colonel Drayton's father was born in this State long prior to the 
Revolution, and educated in England, as was the custom almost 
universally with the most opulent families in the State (th en Pro- 
vince), His whole family were Whigs. He was a judge in Florida 
prior to the Revolution, and continued so until the treaty of peace, 
when he returned to his native State, and was immediately elected 
a judge, first by this State and then by the United States. 
* During the Revolutionary war, he was twice suspended by the 
Governor of Florida. He was not only a native of the State, and 
all his blood relations were rebels, but he had married here into the 
Motte family, equally distinguished with his own for their opposi- 
tion to British usurpation. There were perhaps no two families in the 
State more distinguished for their zeal in the American cause than 
these. Their names and services are recorded in our history of that 
period. 

Colonel Drayton himself received the elementary part of his edu- 
cation in England. He returned to this country about the age of 
fourteen or fifteen, and ever since has been distinguished for his high 
character and acquirements in military and civil life. At the close 
of the war, he was in nomination before the Senate for the appoint- 
ment of a brigadier's commission, so well satisfied was the Gov- 
ernment with his services in garrison and on the northern frontier. 

He had abandoned the most lucrative practice ever enjoyed at 
the Bar, to defend the violated rights of his country. He no sooner 
returned after the war, to the walks of civil life, than he was ad- 
vanced to the highest judicial station in the gift of his fellow citi- 
zens of Charleston, with whom he had always lived, and to whom 
he was best known. At their request, he relinquished this honora- 
ble station (^with a salary of $3,500), and accepted a seat in Con- 
gress, where his services have been rendered honestly, fearlessly 
and with ability. It is known that he has refused a high appoint- 
ment from the Government, from the deep interest he feels in the 
present disturbed and revolutionary state of his native country. 

This is a faint outline of the character and patriotism of Colonel 
Drayton to public confidence. It would be well for our country 
that we had many such. He has never solicited oflSce. He has 
never joined a faction to advance his own interest. It is known 
that even the public station he now holds has been pushed upon 
him. His wish was to retire. His enemies have cause to abuse 
him. The purity of his conduct, and disinterestedness of his char- 
acter, is a lasting and deep reproach on their selfish and ambitious 
disregard of the peace, order and happiness of this State, 

I have the honor to be, with great respect and regard, 

Yours, &c., D. E. HUGER. 

p. S. — We lost the election here from two causes, principally : 
Ist. The immense sums of money expended by our opponents. 2d. 
Their superior organization. 



THOMAS S. GRIMKE. 

Mr. Grimke was a very extraordinary man. He had 
great learning and great talents. He was a most pious 
Christian and pure man in all the relations of life. In 
advocating his views and carrying out his principles, he 
was as bold as a lion. He had too much honor 
and honesty to succeed as a politician^ though he w^as 
once elected to the State Senate from the city of Charles- 
ton. In the Senate chamber, he distinguished himself 
as a debater. He was the most fluent speaker I ever 
heard. The words seemed to flow from his lips like a 
gentle stream that was never to end. He was an emi- 
nent lawyer, and surpassed by none in the State for his 
full and exact knowledge of the law. He was a very 
small man, and not prepossessing in his appearance. 
Mr. Grimke was the advocate of codifying the laws of 
South Carolina, and made an argument of great ability 
on that subject in the Senate. His speech on the Tarifl" 
question was replete with wisdom, learning, and patri- 
otism. I saw him, once, vote a minority of one in the 
Senate. Governor Hamilton, afterwards, did the same 
thing, when he said, " Minorities had no terrors for me.'^ 
Mr. Grimke wrote a great many articles for the Southern 
Review, but they were dull and heavy, notwithstanding 
their learning and ability. Although a profound lawyer, 
surpassed by none in his remembrance of cases, he was 
not regarded as a very successful practitioner at the bar. 
Judge Martin called him a walking library, and said, 
whilst on the circuit, he always applied to Grimke for 
his law, instead of consulting the books. Grimke could 
refer him to case and page. 



Thomas S. Grimke. 275 

In our nullification excitement, Mr. Grimke was a 
strong Union man, and boldly resisted the new political 
heresy with a zeal and ability surpassed by no one. In 
a letter addressed to the State Convention of South Caro- 
lina, he declared that he would sooner give his right arm 
to the President of that body for a cockade, than raise it 
against the Union of the States. Whilst in the Senate, 
he exhibited great firmness in calling to account Governor 
Wilson for his defalcation during the term of his gover- 
norship. Wilson was elected to the Senate on the expi- 
ration of his term as governor. He had made use of 
five thousand dollars of the contingent fund, and he had 
brow-beaten and scared off all who attempted to bring 
him to an account for this fraud. Grimke took the 
matter in hand, and was going to move his expulsion 
from the Senate, when the money was paid into the 
Treasury by Wilson's friends. Wilson was a professed 
duelist, and no one liked to become his accuser and prose- 
cutor. I remember hearing Judge Huger say, that 
although Grimke would not fight a duel, he would 
stand on top of a house burning down longer than 
Wilson, if duty or manhood required it. He was a 
most just and exact man in all things. He was gov- 
erned by principle and right in all the transactions of 
life, great and small. Judge Martin told me that they 
were once traveling on the circuit, and stopped to take 
a lunch on the roadside. A boy got for them two or 
three bundles of fodder for their horses. When they 
started Grimke gave the boy a quarter of a dollar, which 
was the least change he had, and three times the value of 
the fodder. Judge Martin then discovered that he had 
ten cents in his pocket, and was about to throw it to the 
boy. " No," said Grimke, " give it to me ; I have paid 
three times as much as the fodder is worth already !' 
Judge Martin said if Grimke had an execution against 
an old woman, he would make the sheriff sell her out, 
although he might, the next day, give the old woman as 



276 Thomas S. Grimke. 

much as her property was worth. Duty to his client 
Avas one thing, and charity was another. 

Thomas S. Grimke was the son of Judge Grimke, of 
South Carolina, who wrote and compiled several valu- 
able law books. No one would take Mr. Grimke, from 
his appearance, for a great man. He was a fine Latin 
and Greek scholar, and had been thoroughly educated. 
But he wrote some articles in the Southern Monthly to 
prove that young men wasted a great many years in ac- 
quiring a knowledge of the classics, which was of no 
value to them in after life. He was a great utilitarian in 
all his views of life. He had a peculiar, but very sen- 
sible, notion about spelling words as they were pro- 
nounced. It was jestingly said of him, that in spelHng 
his christian name, Thomas, he would leave out the " h " 
as superfluous. He went to Cincinnati to deliver an 
address before some literary society, and there died of 
cholera. He was comparatively a young man at his 
death. Had he lived to a good old age, he would have 
been a prodigy or learning, for he never ceased acquiring 
knowledge on all subjects, and never forgot what he had 
acquired. He was the great advocate of temperance 
and temperance societies, long before Chief Justice O'Neall 
commenced his crusade in the cause. He was the bold 
uncompromising advocate of religion, morality, virtue, 
and everything that made his fellowman happier and 
better. He was, indeed, a philanthropist, a patriot, and 
a Christian, as well as a lawyer, a statesman and phil- 
osopher, in both the ancient and modern sense of the 
words. He was an economist and utilitarian of the 
Franklin school. 



J. FRANCIS FISHER. 

I was greatly pained the other day to see the death of 
this noble and accomplished gentleman announced in the 
Northern papers. The New York World speaks of him 
as follows : 

" Mr. Fisher was one of the most eminent of the citi- 
zens of Philadelphia, not professionally or politically, but 
socially, as a leader of society and a type of an ancient 
order of things. He was descended from the ancient 
proprietary aristocracy of Philadelphia, a matter of 
which he made no boast, but of which he had the inno- 
cent pride which, mingled with higher motives, made his 
career one of pure and consistent integrity. Mr. Fisher 
was born in Philadelphia in 1807, and was graduated at 
Harvard. His large fortune exempted him from the 
necessities of professional labor, although he studied law 
in the office of the late Mr. Ingersoll, and was admitted 
to practice. His tastes were purely literary, and he de- 
voted himself mainly to the illustration of the ante-Rev- 
olutionary history of his native State. Outside of his 
State, however, he was best known by his essays on re- 
forms in the system of our representation. Hare was 
but little earlier in the field of discussion upon this sub- 
ject, than Mr. Fisher, and Mill was later. Mr. Fisher's 
house was always a most attractive centre. His political 
opinions Avere intensely conservative in relation to the 
peaceful politics of the country, but it is simply a matter 
of justice to say that when the agony of civil convulsion 
broke upon us, liis conservatism did not prevent him 
from giving to what proved the weaker cause, his earnest 
sympathies. Discharging all his duties as a citizen faith- 



278 J. Francis Fisher. 

fully, he did not deem it au inconsistency out of his am- 
ple means, to assist liberally his Southern friends. Many 
a desolate home and family circle have been cheered by 
his large liberality. His death is mourned by a large 
circle near and at a distance.'^ 

I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance whilst 
attending the Philadelphia Convention, in 1866. Gov- 
ernor Manning introduced him to me as the son-in-law 
of my old friend. Governor Middleton, of South Carolina. 
He married the Governor's youngest daughter. The 
South Carolina delegation were invited to dine with him 
at his country residence, " Alverthorpe,'' ten or twelve 
miles from Philadelphia, where I spent several days with 
him and his most interesting family. Mr. Fisher's mind 
and heart had been highly cultivated in all the stores of 
literature and pure Christian benevolence. He was a 
most genial companion, and the soul of honor and every 
noble impulse of the human heart. His fortune enabled 
him to live like an Englishman, and dispense hospitality 
as well as charity. During the war he deeply sympa- 
thized with the South and his friends in South Carolina. 
His purse was open to all who were in distress, and he 
assisted largely his wife's relatives in South Carolina, af- 
ter the close of the war. But notwithstanding all this, 
Mr. Fisher was, as the " World " says, intensely conser- 
vative. He had been educated and brought up in the 
school of Washington, and was national in all his feelings. 
No one abhorred more than he did, all sectional jealousies, 
oppression and injustice. He felt that the South had 
been unjustly treated by the North, and therefore, he 
sympathized with her. 

Mr. Fisher was the grand-nephew of Sir Philip Fran- 
cis, the supposed author of Junius's Letters. He showed 
me, in his city residence, a full length portrait of Colonel 
Francis, the brother of Sir Philip, who was, for many 
years, Attorney-General for the Cdlony of Pennsylvania 
under the Eoyal Government. It was a grand picture 
of a very striking person. The ancestors of Mr. Fisher 



J. Francis Fisher. 279 

were all Federalists, and devoted to Washington and his 
administration. Mr. Fisher was in favor of a strong 
national government ; but he was, nevertheless, a bold, 
frank, and ardent lover of civil liberty and constitutional 
freedom. He did not concur, however, in Mr. Jefferson's 
Democracy. In passing by the little old house in Phil- 
adelphia, where Mr. Jefferson had written the American 
Declaration of Indepenence, he stopped me, and pointed 
to the building, saying, '^ There is the house in which Mr. 
Jefferson wrote that grand lie, that all men are horn 
equaV^ He said some were born to be larger, stronger, 
wiser, and more virtuous than others. Indeed, he said, 
some men were born to be great and noble, whilst others 
were born to be stupid, base and groveling. There was 
no equality at all in men, at their birth or in after life. 
I suggested that Mr. Jefferson\s notion was that every 
people as a nation, were equal, and had the individual 
right to establish such government as they saw proper. 

Mr. Fisher's ancestors were on terms of great intimacy 
with General Washington and his family, whilst he was 
President of the United States, and Congress sat in Phil- 
adelphia. I was shown a part of Mrs. Washington's 
wedding dress, wliich was presented to Mr. Fisher's 
mother by Mrs. Washington. It was rich white satin, 
but had become a little dingy from age. I saw, also, 
several pieces of old china and other relics which had 
belonged to Washington. 

Mr. Fisher throughout his whole life eschewed politi- 
cal life, and was never a candidate for office, and yet he 
had studied politics as a science, and wrote several politi- 
cal pamphlets which showed great wisdom and sagacity 
as a statesman. He was one of the first to advocate and 
explain the representation of minorities in all elections. 
If there were four members of the Legislature to be 
elected in any county, he advocated the right of each vo- 
ter to cast four ballots for one candidate, or two for one 
and two for another, instead of being required to vote 
for four candidates. This system of voting has since 



280 J. Francis Fisher. 

been adopted in some of the Northern States, and should 
be universal. Minorities would then be represented in 
proportion to their number, instead of having no repre- 
sentation at all, as is now the case in South Carolina. 

I have said Mr. Fisher lived like an English noble- 
man. He had a city residence in Philadelphia, where he 
spent the winter. In summer he lived on his farm in 
the country, where the house, out-buildings and grounds 
reminded one of all the taste and cultivation of an Eng- 
lishman's residence. His library was filled with rare and 
costly works. His statuary and paintings were selected 
in Italy, and contained many pieces of greal value and 
rarity l3y the old masters. I noticed an original painting 
by Murillo, and I do not know that there is another 
in the United States. 

It has been well said that Mr. Fisher was eminent as 
a leader of society in Philadelphia, and a lover of litera- 
ture- But amidst all his wealth, taste and cultivation, 
he was as simple and unassuming in his intercourse w^itli 
the world as if he had been the humblest of republican 
citizens. Whilst I was at his house, he had all his fam- 
ily present, sous, daughters, and sons-in-law. There was 
nothing of the pretension or assumption of the parvenu 
in his whole family. Mrs. Fisher was a great lover of 
music, and said to me that she really did not know what 
she would have done during the war without her music. 
She was deeply distressed on account of her relatives and 
friends in South Carolina. 

After my acquaintance with Mr. Fisher, we corre- 
sponded for many years, and until his health became so 
feeble that he could no longer continue it. I cannot give 
a better idea of his kindness, high sense of honor, pa- 
triotism and wisdom, than by making extracts from his 
letter. 

On the 26th of September, 1866, he wrote me 
that he just returned from New England ^^ having 
gone there to place my eldest son at Harvard 
University, where I graduated myself, forty-one years 



J. Francis Fisher. 281 

ago." After speaking of the distinguished Revolutionary 
men of South Carolina^ he says : " All that generation 
and all that belonged to it, has now passed away. Even 
their homes are desolate and burnt ; their pictures de- 
stroyed, their libraries robbed, and their descendants 
beggared. Their noble memories are all that remain to 
their descendants, and they never can restore South Caro- 
lina to what it was. But I trust in God, there may 
still be an honorable and prosperous future to your gal- 
lant State, which has produced more statesmen of un- 
sullied honor than any of the great Commonwealths of 
the North, with ten times her population. I confess 
myself not very hopeful of the future, and my visit to 
New England has not raised my spirits. I found every 
region teeming with wealth and foaming with malignity. 
I was at Boston while the pretended loyal Radicals from 
the South were there. I did not, however, come in 
contact with them, or attend their meetings, where men 
who ought to be ashamed of themselves, with Butler, 
Banks, and such others, as their leaders, welcomed them 
with all the honors due to persecuted patriots. I saw my 
friends, Lunt, Hillard, Judge Porter and others, and 
found them much depressed, feeling, as I do, cramped 
and disfranchised, almost silenced by the tyranny and 
unprincipled majority, and having no hope of permanent 
change for the better, whilst the present system of election 
subsists." 

I sent Mr. Fisher an account the parentage of President 
Lincoln, which I obtained from the Honorable Thomas 
L. Jones, a member of Congress from Kentucky, and in 
reply, he wrote me, October 12th, 1866, as follows : "I 
thank you very much for your kind letter of the 3d, and 
its contents. I mean to preserve it with other things in 
the hope that some of these days when the sad delusion 
prevalent is past, I may be able to make some of my ac- 
quaintances thoroughly ashamed of themselves and of 
their former idol. Dr. South, the famous wit of the 
pulpit, says somewhere, ^ when men give themselves over 



282 J. Francis Fisher. 

to the defence of wicked interests and false propositions, 
it is just with God to smite the great intellects with the 
greatest infatuations.' This has good application now. 
The result of the late elections, though not altogether 
contrary to my apprehensions, has been a very serious 
blow. How far or how long it will affect us, I cannot tell. 
Whether the President will be impeached, I cannot ven- 
ture to form a prognostication. The more violent of his 
enemies would do it. It depends upon those interests 
which would be secured by domestic convulsion to re- 
strain and hold back the moderate men of the Republican 
party. Public feeling seems all wrong and ready to sus- 
tain the most violent. It will depend also a great deal 
upon the President himself, who, with great abilities, 
seems to have little prudence. If he had half the tact 
and cunning of his predecessor, he would now have 
command of both parties ; at least I think so. 

'^ I thank you also for the copy of the New York World 
containing your excellent letter. What you say of 
slavery and the freed men is very striking, and your ar- 
raignment of the Pump Congress most just and forcible. 
But it will, I fear, only be read on one side, and be ap- 
proved by those already convinced. * * * The 
reception of the bogus Southerners has disgraced the 
whole North, and the applause by which their infamous 
speeches were received is perfectly amazing. I am sorry 
to see that our Governor elect. General Geary, has spoken 
in the most malignant and bloody manner since his suc- 
cess. So that we have very bad prospects in Pennsylva- 
nia. We must wait, if we can, in patience, and pray to 
God to enlighten the minds of our besotted people. I 
fear this can only be by some calamities, which will not 
only destroy the general prosperity, but end in social 
convulsions of the worst kind.'' 

November 15th, 1866, Mr. Fisher wrote me: "I re- 
ceived yesterday your letter to Mr. Woodward, in a copy 
of the Greenville Enterprise, which you so kindly sent 
me. Although I had previously read it in our Northern 



J. Francis Fisher. 283 

papers, a re-perusal gave me still more satisfaction. I 
entirely agree with you that the Southern States ought not 
to ratify. Policy as well as honor would counsel this 
course. If you are only firm and united, the embarrass- 
ment which you must cause to the Radical party will 
render some compromise necessary for them. The very 
violence and extreme measures of their leaders must de- 
feat their own object, and split their forces. The body of 
Northern Republicans must be worse or weaker men than 
I take them to be, to be driven under party whip into 
measures which would be the ruin of the country, North 
and South. * * * j^ seems to me a compromise 
combining universal amnesty with impartial suffrage, 
leaving the Southern States to impose what qualifications 
they please on all colors, and having representation on 
population would give you great advantage. For prop- 
erty, taxes or education as a condition for voters, if it ex- 
cluded eight- tenths of the negroes, and two-tenths of the 
lowest whites, would be a gain in every respect.'^ 

June 2d, 1867, I received from Mr. Fisher a very 
long letter on reconstruction. I wish I could publish the 
whole of it without making this article too long. He 
nobly says " It may perhaps be the part of worldly wis- 
dom to accept the best terms a conqueror chooses to offer, 
and you may be fightinglikethe Poles against destiny, but 
if the appeals of affliction strongly tempt you to accept 
bread from your oppressors, let their mercy be won by 
non-resistance, not by acquiescence, and the crime and the 
shame will be theirs alone. The time must surely come 
when the Northern people will repent of what they have 
done, but that their repentance -may bring its full punish- 
ment, let them never have the semblance of excuse, which 
they might find in what would only be a simulated ap- 
proval on your part. * * * * jf there be any 
reliance on experience, any truth in natural antipathies, 
any reasonable pride in blood or descent, there must arise 
at the North before long, a fearful revulsion of feeling 
against the negro. The educated class, I think, will not 



284 J. Francis Fisher. 

bear to have him in office^ and equality will be less en- 
durable by the laborers, whose profits he will diminish, 
and whose position degrade." 

I have quite many other letters from Mr. Fisher, from 
which I should like to make extracts ; but I have given 
enough to show that he was a most beautiful and accom- 
plished writer, as well as a pure patriot, wise statesman, 
and most honorable gentleman. It is refreshing, in times 
like the present, to reproduce the sentiments and opinions 
of such a man, and he a Northern man. But gentlemen 
and patriots are the same the world over. 



WILLIAM T. GRAYSON. 

It is a little remarkable that Colonel Grayson and 
myself never saw each other, although we were warm 
friends, belonged to the same political party, corresponded 
for a number of years, and lived in the same State all our 
lives. He was born in Beaufort, S. C, November, 
1788, graduated at the South Carolina College in 1809, 
and elected to the State Legislature in 1813. He was 
admitted to the bar after he had been a member of the 
Legislature. In 1831 he was elected to the State Senate, 
and a member of Congress in 1833. He was appointed 
Collector of the Port of Charleston in 1841, by Presi- 
dent Tyler. In our nullification controversy. Colonel 
Grayson held that " the State had power, under her re- 
served rights, to determine when her grants to the Fed- 
eral Government had been violated ; but he was not dis- 
posed to push the collision to the extreme of civil war.'' 
He became afterwards, in his more mature age, a decided 
Union man, and opposed secession with zeal and ability. 
He wrote a great many articles 'for the newspapers and 
reviews, deprecating disunion in very strong terms, and 
pointing out the extreme folly of the course South Caro- 
lina proposed to pursue. 

Colonel Grayson was not only a lawyer and statesman, 
but a literary gentleman and poet of considerable dis- 
tinction. As a beautiful writer, he had very few equals 
in the State. His style was graceful and easy ; and in 
argument he was able and logical. He contributed a 
great many articles to the Southern Review and other 
periodicals. His poem entitled "The Hireling and 
Slave,'' gave him a wide reputation at the South, and 



286 William T. Grayson. 

excited much interest at the time it was published. He 
compared the negro in the Southern States with the 
pauper laborer in Europe, and showed that the condition 
of the former was preferable to that of the latter. He 
also published an Indian tale, "Chicora/' and a poem 
entitled '^ The Country.'' It is also said that he was the 
author of a poem entitled "Marion/' which gave an ac- 
count of the military career of that patriot and hero. 
Not long before his death, he wrote the life of his friend, 
James L. Petigru, for whom he had, in common with 
every true-hearted Carolinian, the highest regard. This 
life is well written, as everything was that came from the 
pen of William T. Grayson. It was, however, brief, a sort 
of biographical sketch, and made no pretensions to an 
elaborate life. It was the offering of an affectionate heart 
to the memory of a valued and distinguished friend. Col- 
onel Grayson and Mr. Petigru were in college together, 
and intimate friends through life. I know that Mr. 
Petigru had for him a very high regard, and valued him 
as a scholar and literary gentleman. 

I have already said that I never had the pleasure of 
seeing Colonel Grayson; but somehow or other the 
colonel has always been associated in my mind as a most 
polished, amiable gentleman in his manners and de- 
portment. I once had the pleasure of making the ac- 
quaintance of a daughter of the colonel's, a lovely and 
beautiful young lady, then in her teens; and the as- 
sociation of father and daughter, may have had some 
agency in my estimate of his graceful character and 
manners. 

In 1851, I Avrote Colonel Grayson a letter as to the 
result of the election in Greenville for members of the 
State Convention. In reply, he wrote me the following 
letter, which, for its beauty and truth, deserves being 
read now, twenty years after it was written. It will 
give the reader some idea of his happy and graceful way 
of expressing himself on all occasions. 



William T. Grayson. 287 

Charleston, Feb. 17, 1851. 

My Bear Sir: — I have just received your letter of the 13th in- 
stant, and congratulate you on the happy result of the Greenville 
election. The district stands like the angel Abdiel among the first 
revolting spirits of misrule, " faithful found amid the faithless." 
Perhaps it would be more proper to call our people the thoughtless 
than the faithless. While the old, the grave, the prudent, stand 
apart, the fortunes of our State seem to be intrusted to young men, 
who appear to be governed more by vanity than any other prin- 
ciple, and who seem utterly incapable of forming an adequate 
opinion on the true nature and consequences of civil war. 

Our election here was decided by one-fourth ot the votes of the 
Parishes of St. Piiilip and St. Michael ; and although the absence 
of any contest may have kept away many persons, yet it is quite 
certain that a great many refused to vote because they disapproved 
of the whole proceeding. It would have been more respectful to 
the people, and a better test of their wishes and opinions, to have 
submitted the question of Convention or no Convention to their 
direct vote. 

I am very muci gratified by your assurance that I have been in 
any way instrumental in aiding the cause of order and law, and if I 
can assist you in the great work of which your paper must be the 
champion, it will be most grateful to me. 

With best wishes, your friend and humble servant. 

B. F. Perry, Esq. W. T. Grayson. 

The expression of Greenville standing like the angel 
Abdiel among the first revolting spirits of misrule, " faith- 
ful found amid the faithless/' reminds me of an expres- 
sion of James L. Petigru, nearly twenty years before 
this letter was written. The people of Charleston were 
very much excited by the returns of the elections all over 
the State, on the question of nullification. District after 
district had gone over to the nullifiers. Mr. Petigru was 
disheartened by the news, and one of his nullifying 
friends jeered him about the result of the election. He 
remained silent a moment, as if in meditation, and said, 
gravely, "But Greenville seems to stand very staunch." 
This was the only consolation he had, and he could not 
forbear to mention it. 

In 1852, my friend. Major S. A. Townes, thought of 
writing and publishing a work entitled "The Lives of 
Distinguished Carolinians," in which would appear 
sketches of all the eminent men of South Carolina. He 



288 William T. Grayson. 

requested me to assist him in procuring help for his 
book. I wrote to Colonel Grayson, asking him to write 
the life of William Lowndes, whose congressional district 
Colonel Grayson represented for several years in the 
House of Representatives, after the death of Mr. 
Lowndes, and when he declined a re-election. Colonel 
Grayson was elected to represent the district in Congress. 
The following letter was received in reply : 

Charleston, July 30, 1852. 

My Dear Sir: — I received your letter of the 25tli inst., yester- 
day, with the circular of Major Townes. It will give me much 
pleasure, at all times, to co-operate with you in anything in which 
you may take an interest, and if 1 can assist the adventures of 
Major Townes, I shall not fail to attempt it. My personal knowl- 
edge of Mr. Lowndes is very slight. I saw enough of him on one 
or two occasions to be greatly impressed with the suavity of his man- 
ners and the charm of his conversational talent ; and on one occa- 
sion I heard him speak in our own Legislature at Columbia. I 
never heard him at Washington. 

Although at college with Davis, or immediately before him, and 
knowing him therefore very early in life, I was never thrown into 
his company afterwards, until I met him at Washington, in '33, 
when he was a member. At that time his habits had become very 
unfortunate; yet, still he retained all the charming wit and bon- 
homie that made him the universal favorite with all ages and sexes. 
In the case of Davis, I know no sources of information from which 
I could derive the requisite- knowledge. There may be perscms in 
Columbia who could give it. With respect to Mr. Lowndes, I 
think I may be able to procure from his family everything neces- 
sary for a proper notice of his life. I will, at any rate, make the 
attempt. 

There is so much kind consideration in your request respecting 
myself, that I am at some loss what to say. Certainly I should 
never have thought of taking rank among the notabilities of the 
State, but it is a very hard matter for me to refuse to do anything 
that you desire to have done, and your friendly appreciation is 
reputation in itself. If I can put together anything that I think 
will do, and you will be thoroughly satisfied that it is done 
because you wish it done, I will send it you. 

We are in a state of comfortable quietude in our low country 
parishes, which contrasts very happily with the fuss and fury of 
the last two or three summers. The secession men are taking a 
long breath, and are, I have no doubt, in their secret hearts, re- 
oiced at escaping the crime of destroying the happiest government 
and the best that the world has ever known, though they are not 
quite willing to confess their delusions. Still, from the swamps, on 



William T. Grayson. 289 

the fourth of July, there was an occasional cry, like that of a cata- 
mount, which they say resembles a child, just frequent enough to 
show that varments are still alive in out-of-the-way, dark places, 
into which it will require some time for the light to penetrate. 

Very truly yours, 

W. T. Grayson. 
B. F. Perry, Esq. 

It seems, from the above letter, that I had also re- 
quested Colonel Graysou to write a sketch of the Hon. 
Warren R. Davis, and to furnish me with the material 
for a sketch of himself. I remember reading Colonel 
Grayson's letter to Major Townes, who was a zealous se- 
cessionist, and how heartily we laughed over the con- 
cluding sentence. It is indeed a remarkable expres- 
sion, playful and sarcastic, and shows how gracefully 
and wittily he could express himself. 



ALFRED CUMMIlNG. 

I became acquainted with Governor Cumming in 1823. 
I was then a lad going to school at Greenville Academy, 
and he was a gay fast young man of twenty-one or two, 
spending his summer in Greenville. I was struck with 
his fine person, handsome face and manly bearing. He 
was a perfect athlete in form and size, and might well 
have been a model for an Apollo. He excelled in ac- 
tivity and all manly sports. In the latter part of his 
life, he became a huge piece of obesity, weighing three 
or four hundred pounds ! I could scarcely realize the 
fact, when I looked at him, that his huge, unwieldly 
person had once been so graceful and symmetrical in all 
its proportions. 

The summer he spent in Greenville, there was an old 
buildiug belonging to Colonel Toney, standing near 
where the new Court House now is, which contained a 
billiard table, a faro bank, whist tables, etc., which was 
the common resort of visitors from the low country, and 
all idlers. Governor Cumming having nothing to do, 
spent a good deal of his time in that building, which was 
dubbed the War Office of Greenville. Several years 
afterwards, when I met him again in Augusta, he told 
me that an incident occurred whilst he was in Greenville, 
which induced him to forswear forever playing cards. 
The man employed to keep the faro bank, which be- 
longed to a Virginia gambler, came to him one morning, 
and told him that his employer had treated him badly, 
and he was disposed to quit his service. But before do- 
ing so he wished to make something for himself. He 
then told Governor Cumming that the bank was worth 



Alfred Gumming. 291 

ten thousand dollars, and if he would agree to share 
spoils with him, he would let the Governor break the 
bank that night ! Gumming said to him very coolly, 
" I wish to know, sir, why you have selected me, in pre- 
ference to all others, who have been playing at your 
bank, to assist you in this fraud ? Do you think me the 
most corrupt and unprincipled of all your patrons ? '' 
" Not at all," said the fellow. " I make the proposition 
to you, because from your high character and standing, 
no one would suspect you. I know that most of those 
who have been playing at faro would willingly unite 
with me, but they might be suspected ; you would not." 
Gumming said to him, " I am now going to the race- 
course, where your employer is, and shall tell him the 
proposition you have made to me ! " Thereupon he fell 
upon his knees and besought Gumming to spare him ! 
He wept bitterly, and said, " I thought sir, if you did not 
accept my proposition that your generosity and magnan- 
imity would not permit you to betray my confidence." 
The Governor thought to himself that it was time for 
him to forego cards and gambling, when his association 
with them had brought him so low, as to have so base a 
proposition made to him. He never afterwards gambled 
or played cards with any one. 

I visited Augusta shortly after my admission to the 
Bar, and was a good deal in company with Governor 
Gumming. We frequently rode out in the suburbs . of 
the city, and practiced shooting with pistols. Thereupon 
Judge Longstreet, who was, I believe, president of an 
anti-dueling society, went before a magistrate, and made 
affidavit, that I was on the eve of fighting a duel, and 
had me arrested. The Governor went with me to the 
magistrate's office and asked to see the judge's affidavit. 
After reading it he said, "Swear me," which was done. 
He then stated that the affidavit of Judge Longstreet 
was false in every particular, and that it was not the first 
time his Honor had taken such a reckless oath under 
similar circumstances. The magistrate told him he must 



292 Alfred Gumming. 

not use such language towards Judge Longstreet. He 
promptly replied, ^' Take down my testimony, sir, I know 
what I say/^ 

Governor Gumming was the soul of honor and chiv- 
alry, and if there was ever a man born insensible to fear, 
he was. But his courage was not aggressive. He had 
too much magnanimity for that. When appointed Gov- 
ernor of Utah, he left the Federal army, and started 
alone to take command of the territory, which was at 
that time in rebellion against the United States. General 
Sydney Johnson was marching on Utah, with a consid- 
erable force, to quell the insurrection of the Mormons. 
Gumming could not wait for him. He told me that 
after traveling one bitter, freezing day, he stopped all 
alone in the wilderness to camp for the night. In look- 
ing over the few articles he had with him, he discovered 
that all of his matches were gone, except one ! He thought 
to himself that perhaps his life depended on that match. 
If he did not start a fire with it he might freeze that 
night amidst the snow storm. He took great pains in 
preparing his kindlings, and succeeded in building his 
fire. 

The next morning he was arrested by some Mormon 
troops and carried before the officer in command. When 
asked who he Avas, he replied, "Your Governor, sir.'' 
Without saying a word to the officer, in explanation, he 
called for pen, ink and paper, and commenced issuing 
his orders ! The officer was confounded at his audacity. 
Had he pursued a less audacious course, he felt sure his 
life would have been taken. 

His administration in Utah was wise and most suc- 
cessful. He reconciled Brigham Young, and all the 
Latter Day Saints, to the Government of the United 
States. When he reached Salt Lake, he found that 
Brigham and his followers had moved off, expecting the 
Federal troops would punish them for their disturbances. 
But he sent messages to the Mormon chief, which in- 



Alfred Gumming. 293 

duced him to retrace his steps and return to the city. 
The rebellion was suppressed without bloodshed. 

Governor Cumming's account of the Mormons was 
very favorable in some respects, and very bad in others. 
He said they were very industrious and enterprising, and 
prosperous as a people. But life was insecure. Any one 
who offended was liable to be assassinated, and no dis- 
covery of the assassins could possibly be made. He 
seemed to think they were happy in their polygamy, and 
free from all the licentious and demoralizing influences 
of cities. The chastity of their women was above sus- 
picion. 

For some time previous to his appointment as Gover- 
nor of Utah, he had been Indian agent, and no one ever 
kept his accounts more correctly. He detected and ex- 
posed a great many frauds which had been practiced on 
the Indians. I saw him in Washington at the inaugura- 
tion of President Pierce. He was then exposing some 
wrong which had been perpetrated by the department. 
He told me that he called on the President, and was very 
much excited in his representations, gesticulating vio- 
lently, and the President seemed alarmed at his vehe- 
mence and uncouth appearance. 

During the prevalence of yellow fever in Augusta, 
Governor Gumming was mayor of the city, and his vigi- 
lance and activity were untiring. In the discharge of 
his official duties, he had some one arrested and im- 
prisoned, who afterwards brought suit against him for 
damages and recovered a verdict of ten thousand dollars. 
This incensed him to such a degree, that he determined 
to leave the city and never return. But years after- 
wards, the City Council of Augusta paid the verdict, as 
they should have done immediately after the trial. Alex- 
ander H. Stephens was the plaintiff's lawyer. During 
the Confederacy, Gov. Gumming once alluded to his 
suit in a conversation with me, and spoke in high terms 
of Stephens as a man of honor, patriotism and talents. 



294 Alfred Gumming. 

I have never met a gentleman, not even Mr. Calhoun, 
whose conversations were so interesting and instructive 
as those of Governor Gumming in the latter part of his 
life. He was familiar with all the great men of America, 
and well informed on every subject, historical, political 
and scientific. How he had acquired so much learning 
and knowledge, was a mystery to me. He did not seem 
to be studious. But he had a gigantic mind and a won- 
derful memory. 

He spent several summers at Greenville, during our 
civil war, and most of my leisure time was spent in his 
company. He knew all the prominent officers in both 
armies, and gave me sketches of their lives and charac- 
ters. In speaking of General Grant, who was at one 
time his neighbor, he said he was an amiable, kind- 
hearted man and a gentleman. He said when Grant 
quit the army and returned to Missouri, his father-in-law. 
Dent, told him he must go to work, and gave him a farm. 
Grant did go to work and worked hard. He said he 
had frequently seen him hauling wood to market, /cut by 
himself, and that he never felt the hand of any one 
which was harder than Grant's at that time. He said 
his habits had been very bad in the army and he still 
drank freely. 

Governor Gumming was the son of William Gum- 
ming, President of the bank of Augusta for many years, 
and a gentleman of wealth and high character, born in 
Maryland. He was the brother of Colonel William 
Gumming, one of the greatest men Georgia lias ever pro- 
duced. But he never would enter public life, and in a 
great measure buried his talents. He could have been 
elected Governor of Georgia and United States Senator 
if he had consented to serve. He was nominated by 
President Polk a major-general in the Mexican war, and 
declined the position through the highest sense of honor. 
He was unwilling to take a command over the heads of 
officers who had been all their lives in the regular army. 
At the close of the war with Great Britain, in 1815, 



Alfred Gumming. 295 

Colonel Gumming was regarded as one of the best offi- 
cers in the army. I have heard distinguished gentlemen 
say that they remembered more striking expressions of 
Golonel William Gumming in conversation than any 
great man they had ever met. 

Governor Alfred Gumming once gave me a minute 
account of the difficulties between his brother William 
and Governor McDuffie. I had been under the impres- 
sion that Golonel William Gumming was censurable for 
his perseverence in bringing on these duels, for I believe 
there were three meetings on the field of honor. After 
their first meeting, in which Governor McDuffie was 
wounded, he wrote a letter to liis friend, Golonel Benj. 
Elmore, in which he said that Gumming's honor was 
easily satisfied. This private letter was published and 
forced Gol. Gumming to renew the challenge. He was 
the proudest and most sensitive man to his honor that 
ever lived, as I have heard Judge Butler say, who was 
Governor McDuffie's second on one occasion. 

I will mention a very remarkable fact told me by 
Governor Gumming. There was in Augusta or near the 
city, an old Englishman who had been teaching school 
for a great number of years. He was taken ill and Gum- 
ming was sitting up with him one night. Late in the 
night Gumming was dozing in his chair, when the old 
man spoke to him and said, " Wake up, I wish you to 
see how calmly a Ghristian gentleman can die." Gum- 
ming said to him, ^^ If you are going to die, I will call 
your wife." ^^ No, no ; I wish to die quietly." He 
folded his arms around him and instantly took his de- 
parture from this life. The old man had, in his younger 
days, committed a great fraud in England, for which he 
fled to America and changed his name. Many years 
afterwards, the son of the gentleman whom he had de- 
frauded, came to Augusta and married his daughter, 
without having the slightest suspicion that his father-in- 
law was the person who had defrauded his father. 



296 Alfred Gumming. 

Governor Cumming never studied any profession or 
engaged in political life. He was a gentleman of ample 
fortune. In the Mexican war he was an officer in the 
regular army. After the expiration of his term of ofiSce 
as Governor of Utah, he returned to Washington, during 
the Confederate war, and was refused a passport to the 
South for some time. At last, however, he obtained per- 
mission to return to Georgia. He married a Boston 
lady and a relative, as I have understood, of John Quincy 
Adams. He left no children. His wife died some years 
before him. She ^vas a most amiable, intelligent and 
accomplished lady, and the very opposite of the Governor 
in size and shape in his latter years. 

So remarkable as a talker was Governor Cumming, 
that General Thompson, who excelled in that line him- 
self, and was a very bad listener, frequently came to my 
office during Cumming's stay in Greenville and would 
say, " Let us go over to the Mansion House and hear 
Cumming talk ? '' Whilst I was Provisional Governor 
he wrote me from Boston, asking a letter of introduction 
to President Johnson. I was so cordial and compli- 
mentary in my letter that he said he felt some delicacy 
in presenting it. 



GENERALWADDYTHOMPSON. 

General Waddy Thompson was for many years a 
Representative in the United States Congress from this 
Congressional district, composed of Greenville, Anderson 
and Pickens counties. Afterwards he became Minister 
to Mexico, under the administration of President Tyler. 
He was the son of Chancellor Thompson, of South Caro- 
lina, a great man by nature, and one of the finest looking 
men I ever saw. Had his great mind been cultivated 
and improved as it should have been. Chancellor Thomp- 
son might have been one of the great men of America. 
The general was residing in Edgefield when I commenced 
reading law at Greenville. He attended our courts, 
however, and soon afterwards returned to Greenville to 
reside permanently. His kindness and cordiality, his 
talents, wit and humor and great conversational powers, 
won my admiration and affectionate regard. In after 
years politics estranged us for some time. He became a 
warm partisan of nullification and a bitter opponent to 
the Union party to which I belonged. We were op- 
posing candidates for Congress in 1835, and he was 
elected. He had been in Congress but a short time 
when a schism occurred on the sub-Treasury between 
him and Mr. Calhoun, who was then United States 
Senator, and resided in this Congressional District. I 
coincided in oj)inion with General Thompson on this 
subject, and openly espoused his cause. I thought, too, 
there was an ungenerous effort to put him down for 
daring to differ with Mr. Calhoun. Judge Whitner was 
brought out against his wishes, as the opposing candi- 
date of General Thompson. Mr. Calhoun took the 



298 General Waddy Thompson. 

stump and canvassed the Congressional District for 
Judge Whitner. But with all of his great talents, over- 
shadowing reputation and autocratic power in South 
Carolina, he proved unequal to General Thompson on 
the stump. The masses were more pleased with the wit, 
humor and anecdotes of the General, than with the dry- 
logic of Mr. Calhoun. The election resulted in the de- 
feat of Judge Whitner by a very large majority. The 
judge, too, was personally one of the most popular men 
in the Congressional District. He was an intimate per- 
sonal friend, and I was unfriendly with General Thomp- 
son at that time. I did not, however, hesitate to throw 
aside personal considerations. This renewed the friendly 
relations between General Thompson and myself, and we 
continued ever afterwards fast friends, entertaining the 
same political views. 

General Thompson was a man of rare talents, tact and 
energy of character. As a political electioneerer he can 
scarcely be said to have had a superior. He knew 
human nature well and understood how to approach 
every one. In Congress he was greatly distinguished as 
a ready debater and partisan leader. On the stump he 
had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, which he applied 
most effectually. He said in one of his speeches, that 
Mr. Calhoun could not tolerate any independence of 
thought or action with his political associates and friends ; 
that he was like an old eccentric friend of his (the 
general's), who in drawing up the agreement between him 
and his overseer, inserted this emphatic expression: 
" When I say go, you are to go ; when I say trot, you 
are to trot; and when I say run, you are to run." If 
General Thompson had devoted himself to his profession 
he would have been eminently successful as a lawyer. 
He was, however, wanting in that labor and patient re- 
search which are absolutely necessary to success at the 
bar. As an advocate before the jury, he was very able 
and successful. His style of speaking was rather con- 



General Waddy Thompson. 299 

versational, and he displayed very little impassioned 
eloquence. 

On his retirement from public life, he wrote a book on 
Mexico, which was well received by the public, and had 
an extensive sale. The intimacy and close friendship 
between General Thompson and Colonel William C 
Preston, from the time they were in college together to 
the death of Colonel Preston, almost a half century, was 
something rare and beautiful. Through all the vicissi- 
tudes of life, and all the ups and downs in politics, they 
were never for a moment severed in feeling. 

General Thompson was employed for a year or two 
after his return from Mexico in prosecuting claims at 
Washington, and received several very large fees, 
amounting in all to over one hundred thousand dollars. 
One of these claims was that of Dr. Gardner, for losses 
in mining in Mexico, which turned out afterwards to be 
fraudulent and unfounded. But General Thompson 
knew nothing of the fraud at the time. The counsel 
employed, and the court who heard and allowed the 
claim, were equally unconscious of the fraud. I heard 
Senator Evans, of Maine, who was one of the judges, 
say that the Gardner claim was more thoroughly and 
satisfactorily proven than any claim before the court. 
Colonel Payne, of North Carolina, told me the same. I 
know, beyond all dispute, that General Thompson had 
not the slightest suspicion of the fraud till the trial and 
conviction of Dr. Gardner. I was associated with 
Messrs. Bradley and Carlisle in the defence of Gardner, 
and I saw the whole correspondence between General 
Thompson and Gardner before the claim was allowed 
and after it was established and Gardner had gone to 
Europe. 

Whilst in Washington, attending the trial of Dr. 
Gardner, General Thompson, Governor Hamilton and 
myself frequently visited the Misses Fox, who were 
spirit rappers, and witnessed a great many marvelous 



300 General Waddy Thompson. 

revelations. General Thompson became a firm believer 
in the spirits^ and died in that belief. 

Chancellor Durgan, who was himself a medium and 
a firm believer in the spirits, came to Greenville some 
years after this to hold court. General Thompson car- 
ried him out to his mountain home, and for twenty-four 
hours they talked over spirit rappings and nothing else, 
as the chancellor afterwards told me. In the latter part 
of his life. General Thompson would entertain his friends 
and visitors for hours and days in telling them of the 
wonderful intelligence communicated to him by the 



Whilst in Mexico General Thompson became very in- 
timate with President Santa Anna, and had a high 
opinion of his talents. On one occasion he applied to 
the President for the release of the Texan prisoners. 
Santa Anna asked which of the prisoners he desired to 
have released. The General replied, "All of them,'' and 
further added, "I know that you will not refuse my 
request." They were all released, and among them 
Samuel Augustus Maverick, a personal friend of the 
general, and since a Senator in Texas. 

General Thompson knew personally and intimately 
most of the great men of America, and if he had had a 
Boswell to take down his conversations in reference to 
them, they would have made a most interesting book. 
I frequently suggested to him that he should occupy his 
leisure time in writing reminiscences of his great con- 
temporaries. 

A few years before his death. General Thompson 
moved to his plantation in Florida. Whilst on a visit 
to Tallahassee he was suddenly taken ill and died ; but 
not until his wife had time to reach his dying bed and 
receive his farewell. Several years before his death, 
General Thompson became a member of the Episcopal 
church, and spent a good portion of his time in reading 
and studying the Scriptures. His legal mind was con- 
stantly suggesting difficulties in his reading the Old Tes- 



General Waddy Thompson. 301 

tament. Some of these were very amusing. He pro- 
pounded to several of the clergy a query, whether the 
capacity of Noah's ark was sufficient to hold all the ani- 
mals that were stated to have gone into it. And then he 
was bothered to know how all this multitude of animals 
were fed during the time they were in the ark. 

General Thompson was married twice. His first wife 
was a daughter of General Butler and sister of Judge 
Butler and Governor Butler.. His second wife was Miss 
Jones, a daughter of Colonel Jones, of Wilmington, 
North Carolina, who still survives with an only child, 
William Preston Thompson. He has another son, 
William B. Thompson, still living, by his first wife. 



WARREN R. DAVISi 

There was no gentleman in South CaroHna, of his day 
and time, who has left behind him a more pleasing re- 
membrance of his graceful manner, cordial feeling, amia- 
bility of temper, wit, humor, joyous hilarity, and boon 
companionship, than the Hon. Warren Ransom Davis. 
Chief Justice O'Neall says in his " Bench and Bar," that 
Mr. Davis's life was a "short and merry one." Indeed 
it was. He died at the age of forty-one, in the city of 
Washington, and was buried in the Congressional Cem- 
etery. In the space of his brief years on earth, I will 
venture to say that Warren R. Davis enjoyed as much 
of the pleasures of life as many others who died at three 
score and ten, the allotted age of man. He was a most 
charming companion, admired in every circle in which 
he entered, from the highest to the most humble. He 
had the rare faculty of making himself not only agree- 
able, but charming, to all who approached him, whether 
high born or low, refined or rustic, ladies or gentlemen. 
He was a very handsome man, and a polished gentleman. 
I never saw one who possessed more of the suaviter in 
modo than Warren R. Davis. His talents by nature 
were of a high order. He did not cultivate them as he 
should have done, or his fame would have been much 
higher, and far different from what it is. He was, nev- 
ertheless, a well educated, and well informed gentle- 
man, a good lawyer, a pleasant speaker, a good 
writer, and a beautiful poet. His conversational 
powers were remarkable, and no one ever became tired 
in his company. I once collected, many years ago, his 
fugitive poetical effusions in manuscript, and published a 



Warren R. Davis. 303 

great many of them in a paper, which I was then editing. 
Some of them would have done credit to an y of our most 
distinguished American poets. His hues on " Johnston's 
wife, of Louisiana/' were very beautiful. She had some 
of the Inca blood in her veins, which was beautifully 
alluded to. Her husband was Senator Johnston, of 
Louisiana, a man of distinguished talents and reputation. 
Many years after I saw this poetical address to her, and 
after the death of Davis, I met her at President Van 
Buren's. She was then the wife of his Secretary of the 
Treasury. I remember the feelings with which I looked 
at her, and thought of poor Davis's poetry. His address 
to Miss Singleton, as the ^' Belle of the South," was also 
greatly admired. I was present at a ball given in Green- 
ville, when Davis met and danced with Miss Gourdine. 
That night he wrote some very exquisite stanzas on 
" Miss Anna Gourdine," the cotillion and himself, which 
he placed, the next morning, in the hands of John 
Crymes, who had been in the habit of writing doggrel 
poetry, and requested him to copy them, and pass them 
off as his own. Crymes went about showing them as his 
own productions, but General Thompson immediately de- 
tected the imposition. They were shown to Miss Gour- 
dine, who copied them into her album, and valued them 
very highly. There was a good deal of Davis's poetry, 
which showed great genius, that would not bear publi- 
cation. 

Warren E. Davis was born in 1793, and died in 1834. 
He graduated in the South Carolina College, in the class 
of 1810. He was admitted to the Bar in 1814, and set- 
tled at old Pendleton, with Gov. McDuffie. But McDuffie 
soon left Pendleton, and went to Edgefield, where he 
formed a partnership with Colonel Simkins. Davis re- 
mained at Pendleton and was elected Solicitor of the 
Western Circuit in 1818. In 1824, after two unsuccess- 
ful attempts, he was elected to Congress, and continued in 
Congress for ten years. In 1833, the delegates of the 
Union party from Pickens, Anderson and Greenville 



304 Warren R. Davis. 

uominated me a candidate for Congress in opposition to 
Davis, who was an avowed disuuionist and nullifier. 
The election passed off very qnietly, and Davis was 
elected by a majority of sixty votes, in five or six thou- 
sand wliich were polled. I was, at that time, a very 
young man, and had not long been admitted to the Bar. 
This opposition never produced the slightest coolness 
between us, or interfered with our social relations. 

As solicitor, Mr. Davis was remarkably mild and len- 
ient. He seemed to make no exertions to convict. All 
that he did was to present the case fairly to the jury, 
and explain the law applicable to the testimony. As a 
member of Congress, he became chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, and made several speeches which were very 
creditable to him. But his position as a social gentle- 
man was very high in Washington society. They were 
all fond of him, and loved him as a boon companion. 
His wit and humor and talent for telling anecdotes made 
him acceptable in every society. Just before going to 
Congress the first time, he was called upon by Mr. Car- 
son, a member of Congress from Buncombe, North Caro- 
lina, to be his second in a duel with Dr. Vance, whom 
he had just turned out of Congress. It was on that oc- 
casion that Mr. Davis became acquainted with David 
Crockett, then elected to Congress. Crockett took a 
great fancy to Davis, and begged that they might sit to- 
gether and room together. The first was assented to, 
but the latter rejected by Mr. Davis. Many are the an- 
ecdotes I have heard Davis tell of Crockett. He said 
the first time Colonel Crockett spoke in the House, he 
was evidently very much scared. When he took his 
seat, he said to Davis, " It is very strange that I should 
be afraid to speak here, when I know I can whip any 
man in the House." In writing home, Crockett showed 
one of his letters to Davis, and asked him how he liked 
it. Davis replied the matter was very good, but his 
spelling was very bad. "How can I do any better?" 
said Crockett. Davis told liim to get a dictionary, and 



Warren R. Davis. 305 

look up the words. This Crockett did, and he was de- 
lighted. In returning thanks to Davis for his sugges- 
tion, he said he thought, with that little book, he could 
beat any man spelling in Congress. Crockett and Davis 
went to the circus one day in Washington, and the col- 
onel was very much struck with the appearance of a large 
baboon dressed in uniform riding a httle pony in the 
ring. After looking at him for some time, he said to 
Davis he was a damned good likeness of a member of 
Congress, calling his name. This member of Congress 
happened to be standing behind Crockett, and heard 
what he said. Davis whispered to Crockett that he 
ought to apologize for his comparison. With the utmost 
sang froid, Crockett inquired to whom he should apolo- 
gize, " the monkey or the member of Congress.^' 

There was an old maid in society at Washington, who 
took great delight in cutting her wit at Davis, and thought 
herself very successful. In order to revenge himself, 
Davis reported to some of her lady friends, that he un- 
derstood this old maid was engaged to be married to the 
Siamese twins, who were then on exhibition in the city. 
This story of Davis's was forthwith told the old maid, 
with great glee by her lady friends. The oifence and 
insult were unpardonable, and the old maid never after- 
wards recognized Davis in society or spoke of him in 
any way. On some occasion (which Davis used to tell 
with a sparkling eye), a celebrated married lady who was 
at the head of society in Washington, was riding on 
horseback with Davis, and her shoe-string came loose. 
She asked Davis if he would be kind enough to tie it for 
her. Davis said he knew the ribbon had to be crossed 
somewhere before tying, but did not know exactly 
where. Unfortunately he crossed it above the ankle 
rather high, whereupon the lady, with horsewhip in hand 
drew it across his bended back whilst tying the string, 
with such force that he thought his back was cut in 
twain. He said that he humbly entreated the lady to 
excuse his awkwardness and ignorance in performing^ 



306 Warren R. Davis. 

this menial office to which he had not been accustomed. 

So fond of ladies as Warren R. Davis was, and so fas- 
cinating as he was, it is remarkable that he never mar- 
ried, but died an old bachelor. It is said that he was 
very much enamored with Miss Singleton at one time, 
who afterwards married his bosom friend, Governor Mc- 
Duffie. I remember once seeing Colonel Singleton, Mc- 
Duffie and Davis riding on horseback in Greenville ; 
when they returned to the Mansion House, Colonel Sin- 
gleton invited them to go with him and take tea at Wad- 
delFs. McDuffie at once accepted the invitation, but 
Davis promptly declined, whereupon Singleton said to 
him, " Come, go Davis, my family will all be glad to see 
you.'' But Davis could not bear to meet his old flame, 
whilst she was being addressed by his friend. 

On his death-bed, Davis said to his friend, Dixon H. 
Lewis, who was watching by his side, that he wished to 
"die gracefully, and not go out of the world kicking like 
an old horse." He immediately folded his dressing 
gown around him, and turned over in his bed. He re- 
mained still for some considerable time, and when his 
friend looked at him again, his spirit had departed from 
this world. Mr. Davis left only one near and dear rela- 
tion to mourn his death, his sister, Mrs. John Ewing 
Calhoun, one of the most beautiful, accomplished and 
lovely ladies in South Carolina, and in her younger days, 
the belle of the State. In the latter part of her life, it 
was my good fortune to form her acquaintance, and share 
the sincere friendship of this charming and noble woman. 

I do not remember ever to have seen Warren R. Da- 
vis, sad, depressed, or out of humor, although one might 
have supposed there was much in his life to depress the 
buoyancy of his spirits. His pecuniary embarassments 
were annoying, and his habits in the latter part of his 
life were very irregular. But no one had more warm 
and devoted friends up to the last day of his life, and 
his death was deeply and most sincerely regretted by all 
who knew him. 



RICHARD YEADON. 

This gentleman was a native of the city of Charleston, 
and a graduate of the South Carolina College. For many 
years he exercised an extensive influence over the State 
of South Carolina and the Southern States as editor of the 
Charleston Courier. He was a most efficient and able 
writer on various subjects. At one time he spoke of col- 
lecting his essays, and publishing them in two or three 
volumes. Mr. Yeadon was a la^^yer, and stood deserv- 
edly high at the Charleston Bar, a Bar always distinguished 
for its learning, talents and eloquence. His professional 
income was very large from his admission to the Bar till 
the close of his life. He was one of the most laborious 
men I ever knew^, and could read, write and study all 
night, and in the morning appear as fresh and bright as 
if his repose had not been disturbed. His preparation in 
his cases in court was minute and exhausting. At the 
same time he was writing for his paper most elaborate 
editorials. For several years, he was a distinguished and 
useful member of the Legislature. In the discharge of 
his duties in the House and on committees, he was prompt, 
diligent and laborious. 

Mr. Yeadon commenced life poor, and by his honest 
industry and devotion to his profession and newspaper 
he had accumulated before the war an estate worth three 
or four hundred thousand dollars. Whilst staying at his 
house during the Commercial Convention in Charleston, 
many years before the war, he showed me his income re- 
ceipts, which then amounted to nearly thirty thousand 
dollars annually. They ^vere largely increased after that 



308 Richard Yeadon. 

time. But the war came, and two-thirds of his estate 
were lost. The wreck of his fortune though at his death, 
when collected, realized one hundred and twenty or thirty 
thousand dollars. He left no child to inherit his name 
and fortune. His adopted son and nephew who took his 
name, was killed during the war. But notwithstanding 
this large accumulation of fortune, Mr. Yeadon was a 
most generous, charitable and liberal gentleman through- 
out life. He gave on all occasions with a liberal hand, 
where duty required. To his relations he was extremely 
kind, and shared with them his princely fortune. At his 
own expense he went to Boston and brought home the 
remains of his distinguished friend, Hugh S. Legare. 
He performed, in part, the same service to those of 
Preston S. Brooks. During the war, he uniformed and 
fitted out a handsome and gallant company of Infantry, 
which assumed the name of the Yeadon Guards. After 
the infamous conduct of General Butler, at New Orleans, 
and his atrocious insult to the ladies of the Crescent City, 
he offered a reward of ten thousand dollars for Butler's 
head. When one of his nieces was married, he presented 
her with a house and lot in Charleston, worth eight or 
ten thousand dollars. 

Mr. Yeadon's hospitality was unbounded. Many of 
his friends and acquaintances made his house their home 
whilst in town. His entertainments were frequent, ex- 
tensive and elegant. I have, on several occasions, shared 
them, and know how handsome and agreeable they were. 
Mr. Yeadon was a very pleasant and joyous companion 
when not depressed in spirits and feelings. But he was, 
unfortunately, subject to spells of melancholy and de- 
spondency without any cause whatever. It was said of him, 
with a great deal of truth, that "he was always in the garret 
or cellar,'^ excited or gloomy. In some of his ecstatic 
moods, he was almost in a frensy of joy and happiness. 
I remember once in Columbia, after the adjournment of 
the Legislature, and as he was about leaving for Charles- 



KiCHAED Yeadon. 309 

ton, became rushing into my bedroom before day, saying, 
" Good-bye, Perry, you are a man after my own heart ; I 
love you/' Without waiting for a word of reply, he 
caught my hand, and darted out of the room. It was in 
one of these moods, whilst traveling North, he commenced 
a conversation in the railroad cars with an abolitionist, 
who gave some of his assertions about slavery the lie. 
Thereupon Yeadon caught him by the nape of the neck 
and pommeled him handsomely. Before the cars stopped, 
he was writing an account of his feat to the Charleston 
Courier. The election at that time was going on in 
Charleston, and Yeadon headed the ticket. This de- 
lighted him very much. Col. Seymour was the last 
member elected on the ticket. He and Yeadon roomed 
together, and in cutting their wit at each other, Yeadon 
used to call him his tail. Nothing delighted Yeadon 
more than a pun. I once said he was ^^my Mentor.'^ He 
was pleased with the expression, and afterwards intro- 
duced me to Mrs. LeConte as his " Telemachus.^' There- 
upon Mrs. LeConte said your ^^tall amicus.'' This pun 
was treasured up by him, and repeated often in my pres- 
ence. Whilst a member of the Legislature, he kept 
house one or two sessions, and every day had a party of 
friends to dine with him. On one occasion, after the 
cloth was removed, and the wines were in free circulation, 
Mr. Yeadon struck the table with the handle of his knife 
to call the attention of his guests, and said that he had a 
curious document to read them, which was written by 
his friend Perry, ten or twelve years previously. My 
curiosity was somewhat excited to know what it was. 
He then prefaced by saying, that a client of his was once 
in Greenville, and employed me to transact some law 
business there. The client's wife having died before the 
business was perfected, he had to employ him to do the 
business over again, for which he charged him one hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. The client complained of his 
charge, and exhibited a receipt of mine for precisely the 



310 Richard Yeadon. 

same services. After receiving his fee of one hundred 
and fifty dollars, he begged his client forthe receipt I had 
given him for the same services. My receipt stated 
minutely my charge, which amounted to ten dollars, all 
told. 

I was once dining with Mr. Yeadon at Mr. Poinsett's, 
when Yeadon with great feeling remarked that his great- 
est mortification in life was that his political principles 
and judgment, as to the true interests of South Carolina, 
had always thrown him in opposition to what seemed the 
public sentiment of the State. He loved his State as 
much as any of her sons, and would sacrifice himself for 
her as quickly as any one. And yet, all his life, he had 
been taunted as a sort of traitor to the land of his birth, 
when he knew and felt that his love for South Carolina 
had alone urged him to pursue the policy he did. In 
1850 and 1851, the political excitement in South Carolina 
in favor of secession and disunion, became so violent and 
overwhelming that every newspaper in the State yielded 
to the popular storm, and the Charleston Courier 
amongst them. I was greatly chagrined and mortified 
when I saAv this, and wrote my friend Yeadon in refer- 
ence to the tumbling and fall of the Courier. It distressed 
him beyond measure. The proprietors of the Charleston 
Courier determined to direct its future course, and save 
its patronage. Mr. Yeadon was not responsible for its 
somersault. This muzzling the press and silencing all 
opposition to the revolutionary movement of the State by 
a system of terrorism determined a few gentlemen in 
Greenville to start a Union paper and bid defiance to the 
storm. In a few months it was manifest that thousands 
of the best and most intelligent men of the State sympa- 
thized with the movement in Greenville, and at the fall 
elections it was ascertained that a large majority of the 
State was opposed to separate secession. 

Judge Porter, of Alabama, once wrote a biographical 
sketch of Mr. Y^eadon, which was published in a New 



Richard Yeadon. 311 

York monthly. A copy of this sketch was sent me, and 
a short time before his death, Mr. Yeadon wrote to me 
for the loan of it, and stated that his own copy had been 
lost in the robbery of his house by Federal troops. I 
was not able to find it, and have not found it since. This 
I regret very much, as it would have enabled me to make 
the present sketch more full and satisfactory. 

Mr. Yeadon was a poet as well as a lawyer, editor, 
statesman and patriot. I cannot say much in praise of 
his poetry, except that it was humorous and witty. I 
remember one day, whilst staying at his house, he carried 
three or four young ladies from Virginia, to ride in his 
carriage to the cemetery and other places, and greatly 
amused them, all the time, by reading his poetical effu- 
sions. On his death-bed, his friend and relative. Rev. 
General Ellison Capers, besought him to join the church 
and take the communion. He replied with that frank- 
ness and firm sincerity which characterized every act of 
his life, that, although a believer in the truth of Chris- 
tianity, he had not seen proper to join church in life and 
health, and if he did so now, it would be attributed to 
improper motives! 

Mr. Yeadon left his entire estate, at his death, to his 
devoted, amiable and most excellent wife, who belonged 
to a collateral branch of General Francis Marion's fam- 
ily. I once read the will of a citizen in Virginia, who 
gave his fortune entire to his wife, to dispose of as she 
pleased. He had children, and she was young enough 
to have married again. Some one afterwards inquired of 
me as to his character and standing. I replied that I 
knew nothing of him, but that his last will and testament 
proved to my satisfaction, that he was a high-minded, 
honorable and confiding gentleman. Instead of settling 
his estate on his children, with limitations, and providing 
in case his wife married again, etc., etc., he gave the 
whole of it to her, knowing that she would deal justly 
with it and their children. And I should have the same 



312 KiCHARD Yeadon. 

conviction about Mr. Yeadon's will, if he had been un- 
known to me. Immediately after his death, Mrs. Yea- 
don executed her will, and gave the larger portion of the 
property to his relations, showing that her husband's con- 
fidence, the confidence of a noble and generous heart, was 
not misplaced. 

This humble tribute I pay to the memory of as true a 
friend, for forty years, as man ever had. I only wish it 
were more worthily done. 



WILLIAM L YANCEY. 

William L. Yancey was, for several years, a citizen 
of Greenville, lived here, married here, and owned the 
farm where William Bates now lives. He was the son 
of Benjamin Yancey, who stood for many years at the 
head of the bar in the upper part of South Carolina. 
He was a native of Maryland, and the protege of Robert 
Goodloe Harper. He first entered the navy, and then 
read law, and settled at Abbeville Court House. He 
married the daughter of Colonel Byrd, of Georgia, who 
had removed there from Virginia. Benjamin Yancey 
was elected a member of the Legislature from Abbeville, 
and took a very high position in that body. Although 
very young, he came Avithin a few votes of being elected 
a judge of the State. His talents, eloquence and high 
character induced Judge Huger, who was then a member 
of the House and practicing law in Charleston, to offer 
him a partnership, which he accepted and moved to 
Charleston. Judge Huger was very much attached to 
him, and had a very high opinion of his talents and 
ability. Many years after the death of Benjamin 
Yancey, Judge Huger was holding court at Abbeville, 
and asked me to take a walk with him. We came to a 
little brick office, then occupied by Governor Noble and 
Judge Wardlaw. Judge Huger stopped and looked at 
it with great interest and said to me, " That was the 
office of my lamented friend and partner, Benjamin 
Yancey, before his removal to Charleston.'' He then 
spoke in most affectionate terms of him, and gave me an 
account of his meeting him in the Legislature, and how 
much he was impressed with him. Not many years 



314 William L. Yancey. 

after his removal to Charleston^ Mr. Yancey died on his 
way to Abbeville court^ to attend to a great land case, 
which was then ready for trial. I have heard Chancellor 
Thompson and many others, who were contemporaries 
of Y^ancey, speak in most extravagant terms of his efforts 
at the bar and in the Legislature. 

Some years after the death of Mr. Benjamin Yancey, 
liis widow married the Eev. Mr. Beeman, a distin- 
guished Presbyterian minister from the North, who was 
then living in Washington, Georgia. He returned to the 
North and carried with him his wife and his step- 
children. William L. Y^ancey v/as there educated, till 
he Avas seventeen or eighteen years old, Avhen he returned 
to South Carolina to make his permanent home, though 
Georgia has the honor of being his birth-place. 

This gentleman is justly entitled to the distinction, no 
matter in what light that distinction may be viewed by 
the world, of having broken up, for a brief period, the 
American Union, and involved the country in a great 
sectional war, which cost the sacrifice of one million of 
human lives, the desolation of the Southern States, their 
loss of civil liberty, and the establishment of a military 
despotism ! There may have been others who labored 
longer and more effectually to prepare the public mind 
for this terrible result^ but to William Lowndes Yancey 
is due the awful responsibility of having applied the 
match which produced this bloody explosion ! He con- 
cocted the Alabama Resolutions which broke up the 
Charleston Democratic Convention, and severed into fac- 
tions the great Democratic party of tlie United States ! 
This secured the election of Abraham Lincoln by a 
minority sectional vote, and the secession of South Caro- 
lina, which was immediately followed by that of the 
other States ! The war ensued with all its horrible 
results ! 

Mr. Y^ancey read law in my office two or three years, 
and we were for a much longer period on terms of great 
intimacy. I knew him well and loved him most affec- 



William L. Yancey. 315 

tionately. He had many rare and noble qualities of 
both head and heart. He was full of genius and talent, 
and endowed with high gifts of oratory. In disposition 
he was kind and affectionate, Avarm and generous, and 
devoted to his friends. He was a very handsome young 
man, with a bright cheerful face, ever inspiring confi- 
dence and good feeling. He was rather under ordinary 
height and well proportioned, with great activity and 
strength. His manners were not only pleasing and 
polished, but really fascinating, and no one could be in 
company with him without feeling kindly toAvards him; 
but with all his talents, attractions and brilliancy, he 
was not a man of wisdom, or judgment, or stability of 
character. He had strong feelings and impulses, which 
generally controlled his action and judgment. He was 
a man of high spirit and dauntless courage. His im- 
pulses and his passion involved him in a great many 
difficulties of a very serious character. I remember, on 
one occasion, w^hilst he was reading law with me, having 
to rush between him and Thomas F. Gantt to prevent 
their firing on each other. They had commenced a 
political discussion, which did not continue long before 
they drew their pistols, and but for the interference of 
myself and others, would have exchanged shots in the 
street ! In a quarrel with Dr. Earle, the uncle of his 
wife, he drew his pistol and shot him. The doctor died 
in a few hours. Yancey was tried and convicted of 
manslaughter. 

In this affair, however, he did Avhat few men of spirit 
might not have done, under the circumstances. The 
day previous he had had a difficulty with Dr. Earless 
son, who was quite a lad. Yancey sought the doctor 
and explained to him the difficulty with his son, who 
seemed to be perfectly satisfied. The next day he was 
inquiring for Yancey with a bludgeon in his hands. 
Y^ancey went up to him in perfect good humor and 
anticipated no difficulty. He gave Yancey the lie and 
drew his stick. Immediately Yancey drew his pistol, 



316 William L. Yancey. 

and presenting it, told the doctor to " take it back or 
take a shot/^ Dr. Earle rushed towards him and 
Yancey's pistol fired ! But Yancey assured me, confi- 
dentially, that it was not his purpose to fire the pistol, 
and that he did fire it involuntarily under the excite- 
ment. He afterwards made affidavit to this fact, and I 
have never for a moment doubted the truth of the asser- 
tion. He was defended by Judge Wardlaw, Mr. Burt 
and myself. His sentence was fine and imprisonment, 
which Governor Noble pardoned in a few weeks. 

Whilst in Greenville, Mr. Yancey was editing a Union 
newspaper and reading law. He was then a very strong 
Union man, and dealt out to the nullifiers and seces- 
sionists some terrible blows, for their disunion proclivities. 
Little did I then think he was destined to blow up the 
Union himself in the course of a few years ! How hard 
it is to anticipate the hiture in politics. He wrote with 
great vigor, and held a bold, dashing pen. After his 
marriage to Miss Earle, he moved to Alabama, and was 
there some tfme occupied in editing a newspaper. He 
was soon elected to the Legislature, failed in planting, 
and commenced the profession of law. In a few years 
he was elected a member of Congress, and fought a duel 
with General Clingman pretty soon after taking his 
seat in the House of Representatives. He made a speech, 
too, about the same time, which attracted great public 
attention. In two or three years he resigned his seat in 
Congress, joined the church, and resumed his profession. 

The spirit of abolitionism was growing at the North, 
and disunionism ripening at the South. Yancey was 
one of those fiery spirits who could not witness an ex- 
citement without enlisting on one side or the other ; and, 
having once girded on his sword, he plunged in for the 
war. He canvassed Alabama, and went North to make 
speeches. He was thoroughly imbued with a revolu- 
tionary feeling, and boasted that the Cotton States would 
be precipitated into war with the North. He was sent 
as a commissioner to Europe in the early history of the 



William L. Yancey. 317 

Confederacy, and returned without accomplishing any- 
thing. He was then elected Confederate Senator from 
Alabama, and died before the close of the war. In the 
Confederate Senate he was a very prominent member ; 
took an active and able part in all the discussions of that 
body, but his judgment and opinions were not appre- 
ciated very highly. 

The course pursued by Mr. Yancey in the Demo- 
cratic Convention alienated me from him in some meas- 
ure, and when he visited Greenville during the war, I 
was glad not to have met him. The meeting would 
have been unpleasant to me, and, perhaps, also to him. 
He died a young man. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

I have never seen a more perfect politician than Wil- 
liam H. Seward. Bnt he is greatly more and higher than 
a mere politician. He is a statesman of the first order of 
intellect and attainments. He possesses a great mind, and 
is capable of grasping great national qnestions. As a 
statesman, he may see, and does see, every question in its 
true light and bearing, but as a politician, most dexterous 
and adroit, well skilled in human nature and the practical 
affiairs of the world, he may see, and will see the same 
question in a very different light. He is a tall, spare 
man, with a long face and nose, and a head not very re- 
markable. His manners are free and easy and cordial. 

When I first met Mr. Seward, after the war was over, 
I had just left the Attorney-General, Mr. Speed, who 
complained to me, in very unkind terms, of a speech I 
had made a few days previously. I mentioned the fact 
to Mr. Seward. He replied that he himself had just read 
my speech carefully, and that he thought it a very good 
speech, considering the stand-point from which I made 
it. " You spoke," said he, '^ for South Carolina, and not 
for the Northern people. When I was Governor of New 
York, I made speeches which were severely criticised in 
Charleston, but I said, what the devil have the people of 
Charleston to do with my speeches ? They were made 
for New York, and not for South Carolina.'' Mr. Sew- 
ard is fond of a joke, and has a great deal of wit and 
humor. He likes to tell a story on himself as well as 
others. He told me of meeting, many years ago, a gen- 
tleman from South Carolina, at the Virginia Springs, 
who indulged very freely in the abuse of Martin Van 



William H. Seward. 319 

Buren. "This/' said Mr. Seward, "1 enjoyed very 
heartily, and found my companion a good Whig. I 
thought then, as he had been abusing ' the great man of 
New York/ much to my satisfaction, I would gratify 
him, as a brother Whig, in the same way — by abusing 
Mr. Calhoun a little, ^ the great man of South Carolina.' 
but, to my surprise, he instantly flew into a great passion, 
and swore that no man should abuse Mr. Calhoun in his 
presence. I began to think that I should have to fight 
the fellow before I got away from the Springs." 

Whilst acting as Provisional Governor, I wrote Mr. 
Seward, complaining in very strong terms, of the conduct 
of the neg7^o troops in South Carolina. He replied that 
he knew it was very offensive to the people of South 
Carolina, to see their former slaves stationed amongst 
them as soldiers ; but that, according to the army regu- 
lations, no difference could be made amongst the troops 
on account of color. I replied that we did not object to 
the color of the Federal troops so much as to their atro- 
cious conduct. He then wrote me that as soon as South 
Carolina organized her State Government, all the Federal 
troops should be withdrawn. Unfortunately this promise 
was not kept, but Mr. Seward is not to blame. He was 
utterly opposed to the Congressional policy pursued to- 
wards the Southern States. He is too great a statesman 
to have continued such despotism and oppression. I re- 
member receiving a letter from Governor Hammond, of 
South Carolina, shortly after he took his seat in the Senate 
of the United States, in which he stated that Mr. Seward 
was the only Senator from the North who was really and 
truly a statesman, and had thoroughly educated himself 
as such by study and reflection. 

When I first saw Mr. Seward, he was just recovering 
from his w^ounds, inflicted by the assassin, at the time of 
President Lincoln's murder. He had not long previously 
lost his wife. I wished some paper prepared the next 
day. He said, '' No, I must go to church to-morrow, for 
I have not been since my w^ife's death." Thinking he 



320 William H. Seward. 

had mistaken the day of the week, I said to him ; " Do 
you go to church on Saturday?'^ "Oh no," he re- 
plied, " I thought to-morrow was Sunday." Mr. Seward 
was once a school teacher in Georgia, and he, good hu- 
moredly, inquired of a delegation from that State, who 
called to see him, whether any of his pupils were amongst 
them. Mr. Seward expected the nomination of the Re- 
publican party for President, at the time it was given to 
Abraham Lincoln. But being appointed Secretary of the 
State, under Mr. Lincoln, he was in fact, from his superior 
statesmanship, the President. He was continued in office 
by President Johnson, and he has managed the State 
Department for the last eight years with consummate 
ability. Recently he has made purchases of territory for 
the United States, from Russia and Denmark, which 
shows an enlarged statesmanship. In a speech he made 
nine or ten years since, he assumed the bold ground that 
the United State must have Canada and Mexico before 
the measure of her ambition was filled. Like most of our 
great statesmen in the last half century — Clay, Calhoun, 
Webster, Douglass, and others — Mr. Seward will never 
probably reach the Presidency. The chief magistrate of 
this great Republic, it seems, is not to be filled again by 
the first statesmen of the country. Men of inferior in- 
tellect, who have not made themselves prominent by 
originating any great measure, are considered more avail- 
able in a Presidential race. They have less weight to 
carry. 



INDEX. 

Adams, John Quincy, President, . . . .21 

Adams, Jas. H., Governor, . . . . . 153 



Barnwell, Robert W., U. S. Senator, . 124 

Butler, Andrew P., U. vS. Senator, . . . 112 



Calhoun, Jno. C, U. S. Senator, . . .42 

Clay, Henry, U. S. Senator, .... 50 

CuMMiNG, Alfred, Governor, . ... 290 

Cheves, Langdon, Judge, ..... 241 



Davis, Warren R., Lav^^yer and Poet, , . . 302 

Drayton, Wm., Statesman and Patriot, . . 269 

DuNKiN, Benj. Faneuil, Judge, .... 208 



Earle, Baylis J., Judge, . . . . . 214 

Elmore, Franklin H., U. S. Senator, . . .99 

Evans, Josiah J., U. S. Senator, . . . . 116 



FvsMER, J. Francis, Statesman, ..... 277 



Gantt, Richard, Judge, ..... 229 

Grayson, Wm. J„ Statesman, ..... 285 
Grimke, Thos. S., Patriot, ..... 274 



Hayne, Robert Y., U. S. Senator, etc., . . .68 

Harper, Wm., U. S. Senator, etc., . . . . 85 

Hammond, Jas. H., U. S. Senator, etc , . . . . 104 

Hamilton, Jas., Jr., Governor, .... I43 

Huger, Alfred, Patriot, ..... 263 

Huger, Daniel E., U. S. Senator, .... 90 



Jackson, Andrew, President, . . . .25 

Johnson, Andrew, President, . . . . 32 

Johnson, Reverdy, U. S. Senator, . . . . .135 

Johnson, David, Governor, . . . . . 148 



Legare, Hugh S., Statesman, . . . . .251 



McDuFFiE, George, U. S. Senator, .... 74 

Means, John H., Governor, . . . . 159 

Middleton, Henry, Governor, . . . . 138 



O'Neall, Jno. Belton, Judge, ..... 202 
Orr, Jas. L., Governor and Minister Plenipotentiary to Russian 

Court, . . . . . . 179 



Perry, Benj. F., Governor, etc., .... 7 

Petigru, Jas. L., Statesman, .... 256 

Pickens, Francis W., Governor, etc., . . . .165 

Poinsett, Joel R., Member President's Cabinet, . . 246 

Preston, Wm. C, U. S. Senator, etc., . . . -56 



Rhett, Robt. Barnwell, U. S. Senator, etc., , . 129 

Richardson, John S., Judge, ..... 197 



Seward, Wm. H., Member Cabinet, etc., . . . 318 

Smith, Wm., U. S. Senator, . . . . .80 

Swain, David L., Governor, .... 189 



Thompson, Waddy, Sr,, Governor, .... 236 
Thompson, Genl. Waddy., Member Congress and Minister to 

Mexico, etc., ..... 297 



Webster, Daniel, U. S. Senator, etc., . . . -63 

Withers, Thos. J., Judge, ..... 222 



Yancey, Wm. L,, Confederate Senator, . . . 313 

Yeadon, Richard, Statesman, .... 307 



ERRATA. 

On page 27, for Randall, read Kendal. 
On page 229, for Wm. F. Gantt, read Wm. J. Gantt. 
On page 232, for Judge Mott, read Judge Nott. 
On page 269, for Icesa magistratis^ read Icesa majestatis. 
On page 284, for Wm. T. Grayson, read Wm. J. Grayson. 
On page 300, for Chancellor Durgan, read Cjiancellor 
Dargan. 



^70 



'9 
4193 1 



'^^-. v^^ 



^ -'---. '. 






.<^' 

■O 



s^ % 



.^^% ^^^^. 












,<^^ ^^. 



."^ 






o^:' 



-0- 



.^ ^rl^ 



.^ 





O' 




.x^' 


%- 


^'t^' 


v^^'' 


•^/>- \ 


\ 


■■^4- - 




'D ■ 




'/' 


v: ^' 


^ O, 



.iV 















-o- 






■>', 









,x^"V 



:-v 



,0 a 






. 4'^' 



%^U 



^^. 






,A ^r 



* 'V -',0. 
'(; . ^ -^ V^ ^ ^/ r. ^' ' «:.^' 



•-P 



■oP \^ 



^.-^ . .^ 



C'O 



.00. 



'^^ '<>. , ^^ 



^v-^' 



^</ 


^^'" 


\^^' 


'^/>. 

'-^y 



>- 










.c, X. 




\V 



^^ ^'^•. 



'^^A v^ 



^\# 












/ -^ .. X -^ /\ 



' « :^ 'V-' 



-0' , 



00^ 





'^^^ 








x^ 


0,, 


- 




^ ^-^-Z 








■■' -^ " ' o'- 


^•■^ 










\> s ^ '• ^' / /, > 




(■ /:*■ 




^ 


-./ 










.^^''' 


X .^.^-hs^., '.- 


% 


7 




'^ 


-'^■■\ 










"^--r 




,^v 


^ 














~ ^^^' 












\ 










^ 








'>-P 


•-^' 













■ 0' 










v^^ 


^' 






"^0 


0^ 








^ 


°., 




.n. ..-..' ;• - 




<^- 


-TT-, 










«~' ^'^ 


^ 




















:- -0- 























.-^' 






%%^' 
<^^' ^/>- 



i"^ -c 



o. .0' 



^^^^^K^^^^^^^l 


■ 


■ 


I 


HBiiHi- ^ 




wt 


■ 


1 "'■"'■' 


11 


MiiM 


1 


■if: 






1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDDm3bEHH7 



iiiiillli 




ilii 



